TONY LANGLEY HAS COMPLETED THE TAKEOVER of Manroland’s sheetfed plant at Offenbach together with 824 staff, ending a press conference with the rallying cry “Ich bin ein Rolander”.
He also explained that Manroland Sheetfed was now the right size for the market, a market which based around the expanding economies in Asia and South America and in the packaging sector. The belief is that the sheetfed operation will be in profit this year. The same is true of the web division, now a separate company that is part of the Possehl group.
ADMINISTRATOR WERNER SCHNEIDER TOLD THE MEETING that “the two new companies have a distinct advantage over competitors: they have a decent balance sheet. They cannot even be compared to Heidelberg and KBA. There is a structure that is appropriate to the size of the market, This is the crucial advantage of the two companies. You start in the correct size as required by the market. And such a company simply has a better chance in the market.
“There are not too many press manufacturers in the market, just too many big press manufacturers.” In any case said Schneider here had never been a single culture across the sheetfed and web operations.
THE COMPANIES WILL SHARE SPACE A DRUPA BECAUSE IT IS EXPEDIENT to do so, but there will be no further cooperation between Augsburg and Offenbach. This may change on the ground as the same sales and service channels may be needed in customer contact roles. Manroland GB for example remains in administration with two offers for the business. Langley Holdings has assumed control over sales operations in 40 countries.
Tony Langley has recalled Alfred Rothländer from retirement to head his new subsidiary. Rothänder had been in charge at Claudius Peters when Langley Holdings acquired the business in 2001 and went on to head Piller Group after Langley bought that in 2005. He retired in 2010. “Alfred knows exactly how we work when taking on a new business” says Langley, “he is a vastly experienced MD who I know can be relied on during the transition between the former institutional management style of Manroland AG and the leaner more flexible way that our companies do things, and besides, he’s far too young to be retired!”
THE SENIOR EXECUTIVE FROM THE FORMER COMPANY is Rafael Peñuela who had become sales director after the sudden departure of Markus Rall in September last year. The company has 70 press orders in hand and has secured €16 million of business since the administration. No customers have cancelled orders the company claims.
However there will be serious questions about the capacity to participate as a mainstream press provider with only 800 or so staff in manufacturing. Heidelberg runs with 10,000 staff who managed to produce just over 6,000 printing units last year. Does Manroland represent the future as a manufacturer making bespoke machines, or does a company like Heidelberg, KBA or Komori with the revenues to reinvest in new development point the way?
DURING THE PRESS CONFERENCE TO ANNOUNCE HEIDELBERG’S Q3 results, its CEO Bernhard Schreier was asked for his reaction, answering simply: “It was the second best outcome.”
