"What we did to get out of the gate is to actually share those services for the foreseeable future," Roland Ortbach, former manroland vice president of commercial web press sales and technical product support and now CEO of Manroland Web Systems North America, explained to PrintWeek.
"We’re also leasing space in the same facility which further helps us get a quick start. We’re seeing how it works, seeing how these two separate companies work together and then we’ll look to make a decision in the last quarter of this year as to whether we stay or go elsewhere."
Ortbach stressed there are limitations to the partnership, noting: "We are only sharing book keeping functions and things of that nature. Our SAP functions are the same, but the financing divisions are all separate."
Manroland’s web press operation was not formerly acquired by Possehl until 1 February, but Ortbach, a 28-year print industry veteran, explained: "During the time between the insolvency announcement in November of our old parent company and our announcement of the founding of our new North American company last week our doors were open for business as usual.
"We maintained our customer support for both parts, and in-field service without interruption and continued our work on all open projects. Our customers have been very supportive during the past four months and conversations that I and my staff have had with our customers have for the most part been positive. I am also certain that the fact that our new owner is Possehl added further reassurance to our future stability."
Ortbach noted the new ownership has resulted in only minor adjustments to the workforce, adding: "We have now greatly increased our support capability for our market by connecting our North American support group seamlessly with our factory support team.
"The degree of specialization technicians require today with the many disciplines needed to support a sophisticated piece of production technology such as a web printing press system, really requires a global pool of specialists."
During the latter part of 2011, some of Manroland’s web press competitors worked behind the scenes to take advantage of the German company’s financial troubles to gain market share. Ortbach said: "There’s been a fairly aggressive campaign, not just against us, but generally aggressive in the marketplace by one company looking to grow and broaden their horizon.
"That included taking service people from our former company, but how good is that? That might work for some legacy equipment, but in view of the technology today and the sophistication and the level of improvements, I don’t know how long that could work, so I don’t see that as a threat."
And despite a rocky past six months, Ortbach expressed confidence not only in Manroland Web Systems, but the entire web press industry in North America. "I think that the market at large has not yet finished redefining itself with respect to how much space each discipline will ultimately occupy," he explained.
"Overall run lengths will diminish but Manroland has been preparing for this for years and continues to do so in the new organization. There are a lot of inefficient presses in production today that were designed and built for market demands that no longer exist. Many of these presses are being stretched far beyond their original capabilities.
"Everything has its limit though and I believe that much of this inefficient equipment will have to be replaced in the next three to five years to enable printers to remain competitive. This bodes well for press manufacturers who have been hard hit for the past three to four years and who, like Manroland web systems GmbH, are also reaching beyond traditional markets for new business in order to ensure their place in the future world of print."
