manroland web systems Inc., the US sales and service organization for manroland web systems GmbH, headquartered in Augsburg Germany, was founded this past week and came into existence on March 16. The new company is a completely separate legal entity from the manroland sheetfed organization which is owned by Langley Holdings.

Primary activities of this new organization are focused on supporting the substantial base of manroland commercial web and newspaper equipment users through extensive parts and service offerings, and the sale of new commercial web and newspaper printing presses in North America.

To facilitate a smooth start-up with as little disruption in customer support as possible, the new company will operate out of the existing manroland facility in Westmont Illinois for the foreseeable future. The transfer of experienced commercial web and newspaper technical, service and sales staff to the new organization will further ensure a seamless continuation of customer support.

Roland Ortbach, who’s most recent function at manroland Inc. was Vice President of commercial web press sales and technical product support, has been named CEO of manroland web systems Inc. North America. With 28 years of experience in the printing industry, Ortbach has worked internationally in a variety of sales capacities covering sheetfed, commercial web and newspaper presses for both independent and international corporate printers. He started his North American management career as Director of Operations with manroland in Canada in 1991.

Ortbach stated, “February 1, 2012, the day L. Possehl & Co. GmbH became the new owners of manroland web systems GmbH in Germany, marked the end of uncertainty, and the beginning of an exciting new era for the web press division of the insolvent manroland AG. It took six weeks to solidify the company’s presence in North America but that as well has now been accomplished. Difficult but necessary adjustments were made to adapt our organization to an evolving global printing industry, which is still in the process of redefining itself. These changes will enable us to effectively meet the needs of our customers today, and positions us to address the increasingly demanding production requirements of printers going forward. The entrepreneurial spirit, diversified industries involvement, global presence and stability of our new owners, the Possehl Company, bode well for manroland web systems Inc. The combination of these strengths provides our company with an excellent foundation on which to serve our customers.”

Ortbach continued, “I could not be more pleased with our new corporate ownership, with our new organization, manroland web systems Inc., and with the opportunity afforded our team and me to serve our customers and the industry at large in North America.”

L. Possehl & Co. mbH, based in Lübeck, Germany, purchased the web press operations of the former manroland AG in February 2012, creating manroland web systems GmbH as their tenth business division. Uwe Lüders, Chairman of the Possehl Group, directs manroland web systems GmbH as CEO with his management team in Augsburg, Germany.