Following Pendlebury's departure, as an interim measure, Chris Marks, chairman of the executive board of MAN Roland Western Europe, will head up MAN Roland GB as chairman and managing director.

Marks will be MAN Roland GB's fourth managing director in four years.

"The pressures of the role are heavy, and ultimately these things happen," said Marks. "The message now is: good team, good products and business as usual."

Both MAN Roland GB director of post-press and sheetfed sales Gary Doman and web division director Norman Revill will assist Marks with the day to day running of the firm.

Pendlebury's new role will be based in the UK, reporting to Germany. The firm is in the early stages of defining the new unit, but expects to make further announcements in the coming weeks.

Initially, the unit will run as a pilot operation in the UK, with a view to expanding. It will focus on building stronger relationships with customers generally, and specifically to meet "post-installation demands" of the firm's growing web customer base.

"To do that you need to start developing a strategy and we really believe that the right guy to be the pathfinder to demonstrate that this is a business that has a big future for MAN was Pendlebury... he has the right attributes, experience and credibility in the company to do that," said Marks.