The order from Druck Styria in Graz, Austria, is an investment based on many years of partnership and comprises the delivery of a new COLORMAN e:line news paper printing press, a retrofit of an existing COLORMAN, as well as a comprehensive service contract running until 2027. This is, once again, an underlining of manroland web systems’ position as market leader, which was confirmed in 2016 with a market share around the 50% mark. Customers value the clear commitment shown by manroland web systems and their shareholder L. Possehl, to the printing press market.

In the financial year of 2016 the company based in Augsburg was able to register orders at a level of 214 Million Euros (Previous year 259 Million Euros), and the turnover stood at 242 Million Euros (Previous year 241 Million Euros). The results before taxes and interest (EBIT) have been increased yet again and stood at 6.5 Million Euros (Previous year 6.2 Million Euros). In addition, with their entry into the packaging-printing sector in 2016, manroland web systems has opened up a new promising business segment. Currently the corporate group employs around 1,200 employees worldwide.
“These very good results mean that manroland web systems is once again at the forefront of the industry.  The financial year of 2016 brought, in addition, a marked organic growth in the service sector, which leaves us as a company more independent of the cycles of plant engineering and more stable for future strategic orientation. More than half of our order intake is coming from the service sector and that is based on our customer oriented service strategy and the successes of our controls retrofits, even for third party presses (i.e. PECOM-X applications on GOSS presses, among others)”, according to Alexander Wassermann, Managing Director of manroland web systems. “On the basis of our excellent market position, we are investing further in future oriented technologies and service offerings as well as opening up new business segments.”

Independent Production Company
In order to set the company up in a manner offering future security in a difficult market environment, and in order to optimally exploit capacities and thereby guarantee stable employment, manroland web systems founded and officially announced an independent production company in January 2017.

manroland web  produktionsgesellschaft mbH, which is also part of the  Possehl group, will in future be present on in the marketplace as a complete supplier for  mechatronic components, meaning that they provide everything from design to manufacturing of components right up to assembly, cabling, commissioning and quality control, all from a single supplier. In detail, the company can boast competencies in production in the sectors of mechanical production, sheet metal technology, surface engineering, switch cabinet construction, measurement technology and assembly. “L. Possehl and manroland web systems have focused on the ambitious targets of securing employment at the Augsburg location by providing both companies with their own identity and focused objectives of business with this investment and ultimately meaning both will be more independent of the continuously shrinking market for new printing presses” explains Uwe Lüders, chairman of the board. Around 280 employees are continuing their employment relationship in the new company under their existing conditions.

Franz Gumpp has been appointed head of the new company. Mr Gumpp, a trained machine fitter and mechanical engineer had previously been the board member responsible for the sectors of production, purchasing and IT at manroland web systems. “The high demands of quality and precision in printing press production, the wide range of performances expected in technologies and tooling machines and the excellent training and qualifications of the employees are” according to Gumpp, “the basis for the competitiveness and success inherent in the new company.” L. Possehl is reacting to the market challenges outside of the printing press industry with this targeted investment and thereby securing a long-term perspective for the new company. “Alone in our very first quarter of results we have posted new orders with a volume of about one million Euro as well as having initiated numerous new business relationships. I see very good chances of us reaching our ambitious targets by 2019, based on this” continued Gumpp.

Strong performance and continued market leadership in the future
manroland web systems will continue to be the reliable and strong performing business and service partner to industrial printing houses, worldwide. “The signing of the large volume order with our customer Styria signifies not only that they are placing their trust in us, but also that we are exactly on the right course with our strategy.” Alexander Wassermann elaborates: “Industry 4.0 methods have been determining our innovations for several years now. We therefore see our market opportunities on the one side as coming from complex system configurations and their automation and commissioning, and on the other side from expansion in the service and retrofit business sectors. Added to these are precisely tailored service provision throughout the life cycle of the respective system: preventative diagnosis, 24/7 TeleSupport, and manroland web STORE; the market place for wear and spare parts, maintenance and repair.”