Press giant manroland Goss has bought the intellectual property of press control systems and RFID solutions provider Harland Simon out of administration.
Dennis Wickham, managing director of manroland Australasia, said the deal was good news for Australian and New Zealand printers. "This is another example of how manroland Goss is continuing to support customers and the industry. It brings more stability," he said. "From this, we will be looking at how we can support our local customers, including potentially new products and services."
Meanwhile Wickham told Print21 that the merger between manroland and Goss is going smoothly in Australia and New Zealand, with Goss presses operating Australia-wide from small regional newspapers up to the big eastern seaboard players. "The merger process is in its final stages of coming together within Australia, and we hope it will be completed by the end of this year," he said. "All products and services are available now together, and support services for both companies have remained as-is with no major changes."
UK-based Harland Simon went into administration last month, and manroland Goss has acquired its IP. Steve Withers, senior manager engineered solutions at Harland Simon, said he was glad the deal had gone through. “While this has been a difficult time for Harland Simon, we are happy that as part of manroland Goss we can fully support all existing Harland Simon users, with the additional backing of the worldwide sales and service teams of manroland Goss,” he said.
The purchase adds skilled engineers to support the existing Harland Simon install base, as well as a wide range of retrofit solutions for manroland Goss customers, says Alexander Wassermann, CEO of manroland Goss. “This addition to the manroland Goss solutions is a clear commitment to the market. It reinforces the focus on growing our aftermarket and service business for the installed base worldwide,” he said.