German printing press manufacturer manroland has announced a new corporate growth strategy that will lead to internal consolidation and the elimination of some 500 jobs while launching a new technical services business.
The privately-run company—which has been the subject of industry consolidation reports connected with rivals Heidelberg and KBA since spinning off from the publicly-traded MAN Group in May 2006—stresses that its growth strategy is essential to its remaining an independent company.
The measures announced include realigning the manufacturing focus at its factories in Augsburg (web offset commercial along with small and large newspaper) and Offenbach (sheetfed presses). These plants will concentrate on specialized parts and assembly, while the company’s Plauen factory will focus on mechanical production and module assembly, creating products for manroland and other customers.
The company is also consolidating business units, centralizing electronic activities and using its foundry in Offenbach to service both the sheetfed and web offset sectors. The reorganization also includes the creation of a new technical and industrial services business unit made up of some 300 people to specialize on industrial consulting and subcontracting of technical experts.
The company believes the changes will lead to 500 lost jobs, primarily administration roles, leading to an overall staff of about 6,000 by the end of 2012. Overall the reorganization is expected to be complete by mid 2012, leading to some 50 million euros in annual savings from 2013 onward.
“These measures are oriented towards an order volume of 1.4 billion euros in our core business, which is around 70 percent of the high of 2007,” says Gerd Finkbeiner (pictured), CEO of manroland in a company release. “Greater integration of our business activities and implementation of consistent processes will make us leaner, more efficient and more effective in the future. The two new business sectors, Industrial Production as well as Technical and Industrial Services, will also open up new business opportunities for us,” states Gerd Finkbeiner.
Acknowledging changes in the global market for printing systems, where volumes are dropping in established industrial countries and growing in emerging markets, manroland is placing its focus “firmly” on those growth markets, and also putting its resources behind services.
“These newly implemented measures allow us to actively respond to changing conditions and position ourselves for future growth. We are convinced that manroland must seize these opportunities as a company on a stand-alone basis,” said Finkbeiner.
manroland is pursuing a low-cost strategy to support growth in the emerging markets. The company recently concluded an agreement with the U.S. single-width web press manufacturer Tensor designed to open up new market segments including Central and South America, Canada and Mexico, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa.
In the digital printing sector, manroland indicated it is still looking for suitable collaboration with an established provider. CP
all images are courtesy of manroland
