FREE SUBSCRIPTION |
|
|
Asleep At The Wheel? By: Nick Howard | Date: December 2011 | Contact the Author November 25th’s announcement by manroland was shocking but not really surprising. Sounds rather silly in that context, but similar to learning of the death of a loved one you know is terminal - shocking still but not a surprise. Financial and Print industry insiders have been busy opening up the carcass to tell us how it all went wrong. I’ve read many articles from financial writers and wonder – can one really summarize the business [of manroland] with a few metaphors and references to the print industry as a whole? I think not but, heck, I might use the odd metaphor myself too! Our recent articles discussed the possibility of a major failure in one of the German printing concerns and suggested the sustainability of all would not continue - Women and Children First (Feb 2011) and The Harris Study (Oct 2011). Dominant is a word that can be used in describing manroland - especially during the heyday of print. Having been purchased by the giant MAN Group (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg und Nürnberg) in 1979, Roland (Faber & Schleicher) was a leader in mid to large format sheetfed machines. By 1989, MAN purchased Miller and combined the two companies. manroland continued to be a major influence and instrumental inventing key functionality to press equipment. In fact, much of what they have developed has been copied by others including: air transfer, vacuum feedboard, pneumatic side-guide, bender-less plate loading, computerized make-ready, plate cylinder de-clutching, on-press cold foil, closed loop color control, and the first widely accepted off-press control console. These are but a few. Drupa 1990 proved pivotal when manroland introduced the world to what was, at that time, leading technology in a sheetfed machine – the Roland 700. The fiber optic 700 was embarrassingly well ahead of everyone else. This press should have been “the gold standard” going forward, but it unfortunately also proved - through agonizing teething pains - to be well ahead of manroland’s ability to overcome [its] problems. Read The Full Article »» |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 That's Impressive This issue of N & V features a series of photographs taken during a prestaging of an 8-color Komori LS40 recently. This impressive 72-ft (22-metre) long press is equipped with 8 printing units, tower coater and full extended delivery, and raised 12" (300 mm). These photographs chronicled the activities following the cleaning and refinishing process. The Komori press is now enjoying a productive life in NY. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
