Speculation surrounding what will happen next at Manroland is throwing up some mind-boggling prospects.

I read one report that mooted a solution involving a mega-merger between Manroland, Heidelberg and KBA to make some sort of ultimate behemoth in German printing equipment manufacturing. Can you even begin to imagine how that could pan out? No, nor can I.

Meanwhile, the noise level about Shanghai Electric's interest in Manroland's sheetfed wing is such that there must be some truth in it. Shanghai Electric is a huge, state-owned industrial conglomerate. We know it best as the owner of web and newspaper press specialist Goss International. But it also has sheetfed, packaging and post-press equipment manufacturing in its portfolio and owns sheetfed press manufacturer Akiyama. It lays claim to the number one spot in domestic sales of sheetfed presses in China.

The thought of an aggressive Chinese competitor gaining Manroland's sheetfed know-how must be the cause of considerable consternation in the boardroom's of the aforementioned Heidelberg and KBA. No wonder KBA is keen to run the rule over Roland too.

Within days, or at the most weeks, we will find out because Manroland administrator Werner Schneider has to resolve the situation by the end of January. Some sort of break-up of the business appears inevitable.   

The more pressing issue for existing customers is of course the ready availability of spare parts. The irony being that the newer the press, the more problematic any lack of parts is likely to be. The hi-tech nature of modern printing machinery means that when a small widget packs up in one part of the machine, the whole press will stop working. Gone are the days when a fault could be patched up in-house with a make do and mend repair.