First ROLAND 700 DirectDrive for the Balkan States is in Bulgaria

The Billboard AG Group in Sofia, Bulgaria, banks on efficiency and innovative technology. Therefore it’s only logical that the first ROLAND 700 DirectDrive in the Balkan States is now in production at the group’s new printing plant in Varna.

With the recent installation of a ROLAND 700 DirectDrive, Billboard founder and owner Vassil Genchev has further increased his sheetfed offset printing capacity: “We constantly do our utmost to meet the requirements of the marketplace and the wishes of our customers. This is why we invest in state-of-the-art equipment.” Proof of this can be seen at the production locations Sofia and Varna: a ROLAND 200, a ROLAND 500 and three ROLAND 700 HiPrint presses have already been running there for some time. The group also has a considerable amount of the latest technology in digital printing, prepress and finishing.

New production line with a ROLAND DirectDrive
These days Billboard print products such as calendars, magazines, flyers and brochures are shipped by express services from the city of Varna to Eastern Bulgaria and Romania. Besides the new ROLAND 700 DirectDrive, the production line consists of a CTP platesetter, modern folding, stitching, gluing and binding machines, as well as an embossing press. Run lengths under 1,000 copies and more than 40 job changeovers per day are among the demands placed on the ROLAND 700 DirectDrive. It has been in production since last May, so how does Vassil Genchev rate its performance? “The ROLAND 700 DirectDrive is ideal for our job structure. We were already very efficient before but we are now even more so in the short-run job segment thanks to the fast makereadies. Our customers are extremely pleased with the print production that meets the highest European standards.”

Billboard AG facts and figures
Billboard has become a major player with manroland technology and the group has an impressive history. Vassil Genchev founded Billboard AG in 2001 and the name gives it away – at that time the company was only engaged in large-format digital printing but two years later added offset printing. Today the Billboard Group has four production locations – in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas – and employs more than 350 people. The five companies that comprise the group not only offer print services, they also deal in equipment and materials for digital printing.

manroland AG is the world’s second largest printing systems manufacturer and the world’s market leader in web offset. The group with its production facilities in Offenbach, Augsburg and Plauen employs almost 8,700 people and has annual sales of some Euro 1,7 billion with an export share of 80 percent.

Webfed and sheetfed offset presses provide tailor-made solutions for publishing, commercial, and packaging printing – from brochures to newspapers with circulations running into the millions. A worldwide network of about 100 sales and service centers markets manroland’s products as well as process compliant system components and pressroom products.

Web offset presses for newspapers and high-quality commercial printing of brochures, catalogs, magazines, supplements and books are manufactured in the Augsburg facility (founded 1845). They are designed to meet the continually increasing demands on print quality and performance coming from printing and publishing companies all over the world. manroland’s Plauen facility (founded 1896) is renowned for newspaper presses and paper supply systems. The sheetfed press product range built in Offenbach and Mainhausen (founded 1871) comprises system families in small, medium, large and extra-large formats for commercial printing, posters, books and packaging. Some models are available with the revolutionary direct drive system. manroland offers added value with PRINTVALUE.

manroland offers also designing, planning, building, equipping and commissioning sheetfed and web offset printing plants – from prepress through printing right up to finishing. manroland is a provider of customized 24/7 service and (remote) maintenance packages plus integrated services and training measures (printservices). The portfolio includes a certified range of pressroom products (printcom), software products, and workflow management systems (printnet). The group provides consultancy services covering all aspects of investment and building planning, organization, management, systems engineering and process optimization (printadvice).