Augsburg web facility news:
It has recently been announced that German manufacturing conglomerate L. Possehl & Co. has officially signed the contract for the acquisition of manroland's web offset press business.
Uwe Lüders, chairman of the Board of the Possehl group, is preliminarily taking over management of the company. An announcement from manroland reveals he his being supported by a management team of five:
Peter Kuisle, VP of Sales for many years, leads the service and sales divisions, complemented by the technical division led by Dieter Betzmeier. Franz Gumpp is responsible for the production and purchasing division. Company development and human resources management are carried on by Dr. Daniel Raffler. Dirk Rauh is in charge of the financial department.
A reported 1,400 employees will find a long-term and secure job in the newly-founded "manroland web systems GmbH," meaning more than half of the jobs at the Augsburg site could be saved. The announcement notes that a long-term delivery contract with the facilities at Plauen will support this site.
Looking ahead, Lüders is optimistic: "We have an excellently skilled staff and a good market position as well as ultra-modern and highly efficient products. In my talks with many customers I learnt that we are needed as a reliable partner in the future, too."
Offenbach sheetfed facility news:
An investor solution has been found for manroland's sheetfed business. A privately-owned British engineering group, Langley Holdings, has emerged as the investor behind the takeover of this division and its production facilities. Contracts were signed last week. The company, based in Nottinghamshire, UK, already operates two successful technology divisions in Germany in the field of capital equipment.
Werner Schneider, insolvency administrator, had this to say: "I am very pleased with the solution which will provide a long-term perspective to the Offenbach location and the sheetfed printing business. Tony Langley, sole shareholder of the Langley group, is well known as a long term investor who acts strategically. We are convinced that a lasting perspective has been found for manroland's sheetfed printing business."
Roughly 860 future employees in Offenbach will be taken over according to the present staff planning. In addition, Langley takes over the international marketing organization.
"We foresee very good economic prospects for manroland sheetfed following the recent re-structuring..." said Tony Langley. "... this is a world-class business with an excellent reputation and its production and research & development facilities are superb; everything one expects of the very best of German engineering."
