The press manufacturer is owned by Langley Holdings, and is part of its Print Technologies division.
In his chairman’s review for 2022, Tony Langley said that Manroland Sheetfed “continued to be dogged by supply chain issues” last year.
“With a modern offset litho printing press comprising over 3,000 components, these are amongst the most complex machines manufactured by the group. Shortages of critical components caused multiple production bottlenecks that seriously hampered deliveries from the factory, pushing the business deep into negative territory,” he stated.
Langley said the manufacturer’s sales and service companies had performed profitably “but could only partially compensate the shortfall”.
Langley had already flagged the issues in H1 2022.
Manroland Sheetfed has also battled high absenteeism, and the firm said that Germany had experienced record absence levels amid skyrocketing Covid-19 cases since restrictions were lifted.
A review of operations has been underway since last summer. This identified “significant scope for working practice improvements and excessive non-productive labour in the manufacturing organisation”.
As a result 140 jobs are going out of 900 in Germany, with most – 120 – being indirect workers.
More than 80% are voluntary redundancies, with 20 direct workers taking up the exit offer.
However, Manroland Sheetfed is also increasing its apprentice intake as part of the plans, which are set to be largely completed by the end of Q1.
The business will retain its capacity to build the 500 printing units – around 100 presses – that are planned for this year. Manroland’s Offenbach site is Langley’s largest single manufacturing footprint.
The worldwide market organisation is “largely unaffected” by the review, although the Swiss and Austrian operations have been merged into the German unit.
Manroland employs around 1,500 worldwide.
Langley’s Print Technologies division posted sales up 20.4% at €361.3m (£319.6m). The division also includes print chemicals businesses Druck Chemie, BluePrint Products, and PCO Europe.
Langley said that Druck Chemie had “another successful year”, while wholesaler BluePrint “more or less hit its targets but suffered margin erosion” due to higher input costs.
Druck Chemie acquired Dutch fountain solutions maker PCO Europe in January. It is currently being relocated to BluePrint’s Kruibeke production facility.
Langley is forecasting revenues of €407.7m for 2023.
The overall group posted an increase in sales to €1.17bn (2021: €814.6m), and pre-tax profits down 41% at €75.7m. At the year-end the group had no debt and €240.9m of cash in the bank.
