May 19, 2002 -- Commercial offset printing is conquering the Middle East. In the wake of a POLYMAN that just commenced operations in Dubai at the Gulf News, a ROTOMAN system will soon be delivered to the United Arab Emirates following. The ROTOMAN is the first web-fed press for the company EPP Emirates Printing Press of Dubai, and it's also the company's first press from MAN Roland. Until now, printers in Saudi Arabia and Egypt were the only ones with the opportunity to take advantage of MAN Roland's commercial web-fed presses. Four ROTOMAN and POLYMAN presses have been operating in those countries for some time. EPP Emirates Printing Press's latest-generation ROTOMAN is the first web offset press in the UAE and paves the way for entry into professional commercial applications. Rapidly growing market with customers from Europe and the USA Dubai and the surrounding region represents a rapidly growing market in the newly industrialized world. Here, a large number of sheet-fed presses are already working at capacity limits, and although a few older small offset presses are in operation here and there, until now no one has decisively entered the web-fed press business. However, an increasing number of customers are coming from Europe and the USA, adding to the region's customers from local markets throughout the Gulf Region. Thanks to the area's location, the region's printing companies have a delivery advantage of around one week compared to competitors in Asia, particularly to those in Hong Kong. Because Gulf Region printing companies charge approximately the same prices, their geographical situation gives them a significant competitive advantage. 300 employees produce high-quality magazines, illustrated volumes, and books The Emirates Printing Press employs around 300 people and is one of the UAE's leading sheet-fed printing companies. Its product range covers the upper quality segment. Typical EPP products are illustrated volumes, in-flight magazines of various airlines, high-quality business and special interest magazines, and books. Until now, EPP has been printing all its products on a press pool of around 10 sheet-fed systems from various manufacturers. ROTOMAN: The latest performance specifications pushing it ahead of the competition The company decided to invest in a ROTOMAN in order to enter the high-quality web-fed offset printing sector and to acquire a system that would allow it to compete in a market that has become tougher. This is why their solution of choice had to be something special: a state-of-the-art single-web press with five units and a speed of 60,000 cylinder rotations per hour. The fifth unit is used as a coating device or for spot colors, and gives the company the flexibility it needs to accept an extremely wide range of jobs. Flexibility thanks to the coating device and open sheet delivery unit Flexibility is also guaranteed by the open sheet delivery unit that makes it possible to deliver products in the form of sheets instead of routing the web through folders. This capability is particularly important for printing posters or cover pages. EPP's ROTOMAN also includes the Quickstart II package that reduces start-up waste, especially during job changes. Also, special start-up sequences are implemented in conjunction with an automatic blanket and roller wash-up system. The entire press system, to be delivered to Dubai in August 2002, also features an all-round enclosure to reduce noise. Production operations are scheduled to commence at the end of November or beginning of December this year.