manroland AG - Herold Druck orders COLORMAN, XXL autoprint

The first COLORMAN, XXL autoprint in Austria is to be installed at Herold Druck in Vienna. This printing company relies on technological progress and its association with manroland.

Three years ago, Herold Druck und Verlag AG caused something of a sensation as a pilot user of UV technology for newspaper printing, and now this Vienna printing company has opted for groundbreaking technology once again. The first COLORMAN, XXL of the autoprint series and the first six-page wide newspaper web press in the Alpine Republic will commence production at Herold Druck at the end of 2010.

King of the newspaper-printing mountain
Herold Druck specializes in printing newspapers and supplements, is known for its enthusiasm for innovations, and has relied on printing technology and project management from manroland for 17 years. The reason why is the level of quality that this customer insists on. Is being the first with technological innovations one of Herold’s stated objectives? “If being the first means having a competitive edge, above all as far as economy in newspaper printing is concerned, then that is worthwhile. More important however is aligning our company to be fit for the future and choose the right technology to that end. And this is what we have found with autoprint,” explains Leopold Kurz, Chief Executive Officer of Herold Druck und Verlag AG. To what extent did the successful start-ups of autoprint presses in Germany influence the decision? “Of course we observed this during our investment planning and visited the printers in Osnabrück and Chemnitz. What we saw there regarding workflows and print results made our decision an easy one.”

Herold prints the daily newspapers Die Presse, the Wiener Zeitung and the freesheet Heute. As a contract printer, Herold is doing well with commercial printing and is to offer an even wider product range in the future. “Herold Druck needed solutions for more flexible production of commercial jobs and especially for short runs,” reports Bernhard Bitzl, Regional Sales Manager for Webfed Printing Systems at manroland. “Short runs and the big COLORMAN, XXL newspaper press are not a contradiction. Fully-automated production changeover ensures a cost per copy that is absolutely economical.”

Vienna Modernism: the COLORMAN, XXL autoprint at Herold Druck
The COLORMAN, XXL with two printing towers and extensive autoprint equipment is to be installed in a modernized production hall at the new Vienna Central Railway Station complex. Once the press is installed, the APL (Automatic Plate Loading) system with its robotic arms will reduce plate changing times to a mimimum. The Inline Control Systems QuickStart for pre-inking, InlineCutoff Control for automatic cut-off register control, InlineTension Control for web tension, and InlineTemperature Control for ink and dampening solution will ensure consistent quality and thus faster production with much less start-up waste. The press will be prepared for APL logistics, the plate logistics system, to be retrofitted.

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).