OFFENBACH

MAN Roland Hosts Printers for Press Premier OFFENBACH, GERMANY—The world premier of a “next generation” sheetfed printing platform isn’t an everyday occurrence, so MAN Roland extended its recent festivities to more than a week to allow for bringing in several groups of select printers, journalists and its own employees from around the globe. The stars of the show were HiPrint and DirectDrive versions of the new Roland 700 sheetfed printing platform. To make the most of the trip, the contingent from North America was additionally treated to tours of a local DirectDrive beta site, MAN Roland’s foundry and its manufacturing/assembly facilities for sheetfed presses.

By W.P. Jaspert European Correspondent OFFENBACH, GERMANY—In these days of economic stagnation it takes a lot of courage to launch a major new product. But that is exactly what MAN Roland, headquartered here, has done with the recent launch of the Roland 900 XXL sheetfed offset press. While initial production will produce only 12 to 18 presses a year for the world, the people responsible in Germany look forward to selling more presses annually very soon. The only serious rival is KBA-Planeta. MAN Roland claims by its technology to be the world leader now with the Roland XXL, based on the successful sales of the Roland