drupa is Manroland Sheetfed’s next step

Revitalized manufacturer to showcase its Evolutionary press with more than 250 incremental enhancements and improvements as it pursues its goal of future-proofing offset printing. Patrick Howard visits the Offenbach foundry and factory. Manroland Sheetfed has turned into a lean manufacturing machine under the energetic management of UK entrepreneur, Tony Langley. Since taking the helm in 2012 of what at the time he describes as ‘a lumbering leviathan,’ he has consolidated its manufacturing into one plant, sold off surplus building and machinery, and brought staff numbers down to 1,600 worldwide. He describes the process as adjusting production capacity to meet the market and derides his two German competitors as continuing to ‘languish [while] their re-alignment of capacity to current demands remains glacially slow.’ It’s a very different way of doing business for German industry and Langley’s free-wheeling English style has undoubtedly put a few noses out of joint. But more importantly is the attitude of the workforce to their Anglo saviour. Talking with long-term employees, Willie Graef and Hieke Weber, on a cold afternoon in the…

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