Simon FitzGerald steps up as sheetfed manager manroland

Manroland snaps up former Kodak employee, Simon FitzGerald, to manage its sheetfed division.

FitzGerald (pictured) has spent the majority of his Australian working career at Kodak, most recently overseeing the company’s sales. A meeting with long-time acquaintance, Steve Dunwell, manroland’s managing director, was able to sway him into joining the company where he started this week.

“I met with Steve, who outlined manroland’s commitment to Australia and New Zealand in terms of going direct. It was too compelling an argument to walk away from,” FitzGerald admitted.

As sheetfed manager for New South Wales, ACT and Queensland, FitzGerald said that his primary focus will be making sure that manroland customers in the region extract maximum value from their products; in addition, he will also lend a hand to manroland’s web division in Melbourne.

“It’s a difficult market to compete in and extracting the last percentage of value is often the difference between profit and loss,” he said. “We are currently embarking on a process of audits at our customer sites to see how they can get the maximum value possible.”

Only days into his new role, FitzGerald is confident of manroland’s presence in Australia following its decision to go direct and end the distributorship arrangement with MAN Ferrostaal late last year.

“Once we have a chance to get out there and speak with more people they will see that we have the right people on board with the competence and expertise to assist customers and the market in general,” FitzGerald said.