Niederösterreichisches Pressehaus Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft (NP DRUCK) in St. Pölten, Austria, invests in a 16-page ROTOMAN from manroland web systems, offering added value to customers

Growing competitive pressure in the printing industry moved NP DRUCK to refine its market strategy. The company aims to develop new high-quality applications in collaboration with its customers and produce these solutions with top-rate efficiency in commercial web offset.

At NP DRUCK, engineer and Managing Director Gerhard Schmidrathner is convinced: “In recent years, boosting efficiency was a top priority, but now we want to focus on diversification and offering our customers new design options for their printed products.” “We often hear questions like ‘How can I stand out’ or ‘What can you offer me that others can’t?’” Peter Jordan, Head of Sales and Marketing, adds: “Prior to making the investment decision, we took a close look at the markets. Customers don’t want ‘off the rack’ solutions. With collaborative product development we will be able to meet an even greater number of creative requirements while remaining competitive. The ultra-rapid changeovers, low waste, and high production speed we get from the ROTOMAN DirectDrive will also help us produce more efficiently, flexibly, and economically in the future.”

ROTOMAN DirectDrive – in a class of its own
The ROTOMAN DirectDrive demonstrates high performance with up to 65,000 cylinder revolutions per hour and a 965-mm web width. For efficient production of low and ultra-low volume print work, the ROTOMAN DirectDrive in St. Pölten is equipped with the entire range of autoprint features. This includes the AutoJobChange system, which automatically initiates a title change once the target volume is reached, triggers a fully automated plate change with APL, and ramps up the press to the good copy stage. Quality-assuring Inline Control systems for cut-off and color register control and ink density measurement from manroland web systems ensure reproducibility with minimal effort. This technology also makes press operators’ job easier. With its fifth printing couple, the system can provide both fully automated version and title changes with DynaChange, and finishing options such as coating or special color printing. Even more diverse production options are available to NP DRUCK’s customers thanks to the system’s perforating device, punching tool, and plow fold.

Configuring the ROTOMAN for top economic efficiency, especially in the low-volume segment, on the one hand, and unparalleled product diversity and quality on the other was what ultimately convinced NP DRUCK to choose the system, together with many years of successful collaboration between the two companies from St. Pölten and Augsburg. NP DRUCK currently operates three additional commercial web presses from the ROTOMAN and LITHOMAN series from manroland web systems. 

The ROTOMAN DirectDrive will start regular production in fall 2015, and produce around 300 different newspaper titles, catalogs, supplements, and brochures in small and medium-sized runs in the highest quality. Gerhard Schmidrathner sums up: “We will sound out the numerous different options provided by heatset printing and enhance the quality of our print products even further. Our objective is to put the fun back into printing.”