Press giant KBA announced at a pre-Drupa event in Germany last week that a new service wing would target Manroland users in certain countries, following the latter's fall into administration and subsequent break-up.

However, this week UK managing director Christian Knapp revealed he had already recruited two Manroland engineers, and employed an ex-Manroland consumables expert, Andrew Patrick.

"We have our first refurbishment order already, and I’m in the process of recruiting an additional salesperson for third-party service, too," he told PrintWeek. "We are absolutely making a play for this business."

However, Manroland Web Systems director John Ellis questioned the viability of the offering: "I would have thought they developed this strategy while Manroland was in a state of flux, but we got through that," he said.

 "We take it seriously, but I imagine there are easier markets for them to target than the UK. If they did some work on a press and got it wrong, then KBA and the customer would be in a very difficult situation."

Manroland Sheetfed UK managing director Adam Robotham added: "We’re here and carrying out service and selling spare parts just as we always have.

"What are their sources of supply? All our service guys are factory trained and all our spares are from Manroland. If you buy something somewhere else, you don’t have that guarantee."