Packaging and the Evolution

Following the launch of its ‘Evolution’ series and major sales successes at Drupa 2016, the German offset press manufacturer is optimistic about its future as part of Langley Holdings Group. Nick Coombes reports for Folding Carton Industry magazine.

In the five years that have passed since British entrepreneur Tony Langley acquired the assets of Manroland’s sheet fed press division in Offenbach, and its large user base worldwide, much has changed in the printing world, with the continued rise of digital technology, especially in the commercial sector, and the fragmentation of package print caused by a change in shopping habits encouraged by the Internet and social media.

From the heyday of the former Manroland, today’s resurgent company finds itself fighting different battles with new opponents, with a whole set of new rules. So, it’s encouraging to see what progress has been made since the dark days of 2011, and nothing highlights that better than the interest shown by carton makers in the Roland 700 Evolution press.

Speaking recently to the trade media he commented: “Printers are facing new challenges now, as never before. Market maturity, lower profitability, environmental issues, and lack of personnel training are all serious challenges for printers, and our success will depend on how well we continue to enable our customers to meet and grow through those challenges.The Evolution series has been designed to allow carton converters to meet these new challenges, and those who have installed it are reporting how much the new user interface is helping them to deliver consistently high performance.”

Among the features that boost productivity on the new press are simultaneous plate loading for faster make-ready, QuickStart Plus for waste reduction, Inline Foiling and Coating capabilities to add value, and fast reaction LED drying for shorter lead times and more eco-friendly production. The latter, in particular, has been of significant benefit, giving colours greater vibrancy and allowing for a wider range of substrates to be processed efficiently. These include those that can be tricky to handle like metallised papers and boards, as well as synthetics. With a smaller footprint and lower power requirement than conventional UV systems, LED is now seen as the next generation in curing technology.

Highlighting the impact that the new Roland 700 Evolution has had on their businesses are two Asian customers that serve different markets but agree on the benefits of the new press. Brilliant International Group, which is based in Hong Kong, was established in 1986. Now, with subsidiaries also in Shenzhen and Zhengzhou, Brilliant is one of the region’s leading manufacturers of high-end cartons for the toy, cosmetics, jewellery, electronics, appliances and giftware markets with a staff of 4,000 and a production facility of 500,000sqft in Shenzhen.

Speaking for the company, Founder and Chairman Dr Allen Shi said: “Our customers have been the key to our success so we have always made great efforts to support them by investing the latest and best technology. That way, we can keep the quality of our service high and bring innovation to the discussion table. The Roland 700 Evolution is the newest part of that plan.” A Roland user for more than 30 years, Brilliant now has six presses, including one large format Roland 900. Believing colour control to be the key to print quality, Dr Shi is impressed with the controllability offered on the new press. “We have always been able to maintain good colour management on our Rolands, but the 700 Evolution takes it to new levels,” he commented.

Acknowledging that the market never stands still, Brilliant is constantly looking for ways to add value for its customers, and its new Roland is equipped with Inline Foiler, InlineInspector, Inline ColorPilot, and InlineRegister. “We recognise that our customers need to be able to differentiate themselves from their competitors, so we must offer them as wide a variety of production capabilities as possible – the Evolution technology does just that!”

In Thailand, sixty years of carton converting expertise has led to TCP Industry choosing a Roland 700 Evolution for its plant in Bangkok. The seven-colour press, with its inline capabilities is described as “the perfect press for our business”, by the company’s Managing Director Soontorn Soontornkumphonratana, who tested the press at Manroland Sheetfed’s Print Technology Centre prior to placing the order. “InlineColorPilot, InlineInspector 2.0 with PDF detection and InlineNumbering all give us automatic 100% control that is essential for high-end cartons, and make production so much more efficient,” he added.

With an annual production capacity of around 15,000 tons of board, the company is proud of its quality portfolio of brand owners, who benefit from TCP’s accreditation to ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and GMP/HACCP, and FSC. In addition to the colour management controls it offers, the Roland 700 Evolution also offers a production speed of 18,000 sheets/hour, making it a high performer and also a hungry animal to feed. With this level of new capacity, TCP is confident of its ability to grow the business in quality cartons, matching adding value with shorter lead times.

It’s clear the new Roland 700 Evolution has added firepower to the manufacturer’s well-established and proven armoury of technology. With its direct drive and new control features, it raises the benchmark for medium format carton houses and offers a significant boost to productivity and potential profitability. Little wonder then that Rafael Peñuela sees 2017 as the beginning of a major growth spurt for Manroland Sheetfed.

Brilliant.jpg - Brilliant Group celebrated 30 years in business with its new Roland 700 Evolution on the opening day of Drupa 2016. Seen here (l to r) Rafael Penuela (CEO Manroland Sheetfed), Allen Shi (Chairman Brilliant Group), Kimmy Shi (Director & General Manager Brilliant Group), Peter Conrady (Head of Sales Manroland Sheetfed), Kurt Hermann (Managing Director Manroland Greater China), Samuel Tam (General Manager Sales and Marketing Manroland Greater China), Heike Weber (Head of Regional Sales Manroland Sheetfed), Roy Xu (Head of PrintService Manroland Greater China).

TCP Industry 1.jpg - Peter Conrady (Head of Sales Manroland Sheetfed), shakes hands with Soontorn Soontornkumphonratana (Managing Director of TCP Industry)

TCP Industry 2.jpg - Prior to installation, the TCP Industry team visited
Manroland Sheetfed’s PTC in Offenbach