Young manrolanders

Offenbach 10 April 2012 Apprentices at manroland sheetfed GmbH in Offenbach turned out in force recently for this group photo to show the world that their company is looking to the future. Over 100 youngsters lined up with their Head of Training, Albrecht Völz, to send a clear message that manroland is committed to manufacturing presses long term - and will make sure it has the specialized skills to do so for many years to come.

“Since years we have trained similar numbers of young people and our programme is continuing at the same level” said Herr Volz. “Our new shareholder is forward thinking and is looking long term.”

Alfred Rothlaender, the veteran German manufacturing man brought in by British industrialist Tony Langley to head the Offenbach business, following his takeover of manroland sheetfed in February, confirmed that the company's apprentice programme had not been affected by the insolvency of manroland AG and that the programme would continue with the current level of intake for the next three years at least. “We need highly skilled craftsmen to build the best German presses and those skills are not acquired overnight” said Rothlaender.

The company recruits around 25 new trainees each year and currently employs around 1000 people in Offenbach, including more than 100 trainees. Worldwide, manroland sheetfed employs more than 2000 people via its network of over 40 subsidiaries, which provide sales and aftermarket services to an installed base of over 10,000 manroland sheetfed presses.