Printcom Expansion

manroland GB is using Northprint 2011 to formally announce the opening of a new Midlands office for its printcom division, as well as the signing of an exclusive UK distribution agreement for the Lubetech range of environmental spill control solutions. The doors to the new office, in Kettering, Northamptionshire were officially opened on Monday 9th May and will give the company an expanded regional hub from which to service its printcom customers in the Midlands and the north of the country.

Says Mark Wilkins, National Sales Manager of Printcom Sheetfed, manroland: “The new office will be headed up by Morag Johnson and signals a major step forward in our drive to build the UK customer base for our growing range of pressroom products. We have had a very successful last 12 months, seeing significant sales growth across all product ranges including RotaDyne rollers and Vulcan and printcom blankets. With manroland GB also now signing a deal to exclusively distribute Lubetech’s environmental spillage solutions in the UK, it’s the right time to expand our physical presence with the opening of a new regional office.”

Wilkins says Lubetech is a world leader in environmental spill control solutions and manufactures a range of high quality absorbents and spill control and cleaning solutions designed to help the industry protect the environment from contamination caused by spill fluids.

He continues: “Lubetech products are renowned for their outstanding quality and are a very welcome addition to our portfolio. All our products are rigorously tested by the manufacturer and manroland, which means our customers can have complete confidence. We carefully select all pressroom products on the basis of their total production performance to ensure they have the strength and quality to help extend the lifetime of a press and maximise the printer’s investment in this technology. There is little point spending several million pounds on a high performance press if the consumables then used on it are not allowing that press to perform to the best it can. It is a false economy to try and save money at the point of purchase.”

Concludes Norman Revill, Managing Director, manroland GB: “Despite a tough general market out there, we achieved strong growth in this division over the last year, including double-digit growth in blanket sales, which a testament to the strength of the products and the great team we have in place, all backed up by a solid commercial strategy. The opening of our new office in the Midlands will further enhance our ability to work closer with our customers right across the country and ensure that we continue to provide an excellent level of service to them.

“Price is naturally still a key driver in the market, especially in the pressroom products and consumables sector. It does require a mindset change to see consumables as an investment rather than just a commodity purchase, but those printers that have are seeing the real value and longer term commercial and production benefits of investing in reliable, trusted pressroom products.”