The announcement of the Roland 700 Evolution sheetfed press reinforces Steve Dunwell’s belief in Langley Holding’s commitment to R&D in the printing industry and will drive sales in Australia and NZ next year.
In addition Dunwell welcomed the announcement that Langley, the UK owner of manroland sheetfed, has also acquired the German printing chemistry manufacturer, DruckChemie. “It proves they are serious about working in the printing industry and it’s worth noting that they have never sold a company they bought,” said Dunwell. He is yet to find out what the new acquisition will mean in the local market.
Rounding out a good year where manroland Australasia installed four high-end offset sheetfed presses in the region – three six-colour presses and a five-colour – Dunwell said his operation had exceeded its targets. Another two new German printing engineers are coming on board to increase the local contingent to 26, mostly servicing the web market.
The Roland 700 Evolution press is to supersede both the 700 HS and the 700 Direct Drive, on an all-new platform. Designed from the ground up and incorporating a futuristic look, the Evolution 700 has nine new technological developments. Dunwell expects to have the first available for delivery here mid-2015.
DruckChemie, is a German print chemicals group that went into administration in September. Langley Holdings plc, the UK industrial group that owns manroland sheet bought the company, which has annual revenues of circa €75 million and around 300 employees. It is Europe's leading print chemicals producer.
According to a press statement, Langley has made numerous acquisitions of under-performing businesses over the last two decades, evolving into a near billion Euros revenue group employing over 4000 people in over 70 countries. The group is entirely debt free and prides itself on having never sold any company it has acquired.
manroland web, the owner of the local company, claims to have increased its market share of the web business globally during the year. At a total of $330 million the market is declining but according to Steve Dunwell, the company has over 60% of the commercial heatset web and 30% of the newspaper market. He believes the market has now stabilised but is unlikely to ever increase in volume again.
- 700 Evolution … new technological developments and enhancements aim to give printers unprecedented levels of efficiency, productivity, operation and quality.
