MAN Roland’s Southern Region Building to a Record Sales Year

MAN Roland’s Southern Region has become a hotbed of major press sales for the company, increasing the momentum as the pressmaker continues their record-setting pace for 2006.

These were among some of the major purchases registered recently by MAN Roland’s sales teams throughout the South:

A Rotoman for Gateway
Gateway Press in Louisville, Kentucky ordered a new eight-unit two-web ROTOMAN press from MAN Roland. With a 170,000 sq ft facility and $40 million in annual sales, Gateway is an example on how to grow systematically into a successful commercial printing enterprise.

“We started out looking at four different press manufacturers,” says Darrell Embry, Senior Vice President of Sales. ”We quickly reduced that number down to two, and started making site visits. Our initial MAN Roland exposure was at Publishers Press, and then we went to the Graph Expo in Chicago. Both experiences were very positive. It became clear very early that MAN Roland makes a superior press.”

Gateway filtered all its decisions through the lens of its customers and its prospects. “The new ROTOMAN will enable our existing customers to save money due to the state-of-the-art technology this press will provide, and we are amazed at what we have seen in the field being achieved on ROTOMAN presses,” Embry says.

Made for the Marketplace
Meredith-Webb, a commercial printing company with services ranging from direct mail to packaging, has added a new 64-inch ROLAND 900 XXL to its fleet of four MAN Roland presses. The objective: to offer new opportunities to its customers and enlarge its business base.

“We’ve had a 30-year relationship with MAN Roland,” says Kelly Webb, Executive VP for the Burlington, North Carolina company. “Our new ROLAND 900 XXL is the next step in that profitable partnership. Whether it’s printing units or press electronics, the capabilities of the press or the size of the units, MAN Roland delivers. They’ve shown us that the XXL format is something that could enhance the way we do business. They bring us the equipment enhancements we need to better serve our market place.”

New Tech for Hi-Tech
Hi-Tech Graphics installed a ROLAND 500 in its new 27,000 sq ft facility in Marietta, Georgia. The MAN Roland system is a six-color model complete with an inline coating unit and an extended delivery. It joins five-color and two-color 28-inch presses in Hi-Tech’s pressroom. “We switched to MAN Roland because of the competitive advantage of the ROLAND 500’s 23” x 29” press size,” says COO Cara Kass. “The combination of the 6-up page size and speed allows us to be 50% more productive.”

Versatility is another ROLAND 500 attribute that will be put to good use at Hi-Tech. The press can handle an extensive array of substrates, ranging from 40 pt. board to ultra-thin plastic film, at an industry-leading speed of 18.000 sph. “We will utilize the ROLAND 500 to print a wide variety of jobs, from postcards and corporate collateral to point of purchase signage,” Kass notes. “Its speed also will make it ideal for our longer run lengths.”

Living Large in Carolina
Carolina Graphic Services in Greensboro, North Carolina, is adding large format printing to its repertoire, while expanding its capacity, with a new ROLAND 900 XXL —a six color with coating and an extended delivery.

Partners Jeff Tyska and Ron Woodward say they’re looking forward to the additional sales opportunities the new press will provide. “The ROLAND 900 XXL will open a lot of doors for us with its 64-inch format and the added capacity and capabilities it delivers,” Woodward notes.

Superior Nets a ROLAND 500
Using the performance of its first ROLAND 500 as its benchmark, Superior Printers, Inc. in Winter Park, Florida has ordered its second ROLAND 500 in as many years. Both presses are six-color-with-coater models, and the new press will bring perfecting capabilities to Superior.

“Back when we were shopping for our first 29-inch system, we analyzed two competitive presses,” says Ed Sengel, Superior Printers’ President. “The MAN Roland appeared to be the most productive for us, based on its speed, its high level of automation and the ease of working its console.”

A Fourth for Tucker Castleberry
Tucker Castleberry Printing — one of the leading commercial printers in the Atlanta area — has signed for a new six-color-plus-coater ROLAND 700. That configuration matches the company’s other three ROLAND 700s, giving Tucker Castleberry pressmen extraordinary flexibility in assigning presses to jobs.

But there are more significant reasons Tuck Tucker, the company’s president, keeps buying ROLAND 700s. “There’s no better press on the market,” he declares.

Technology Tour
MAN Roland sales were up 20% to $1.13 billion the first six months of this year, while many of its competitors had marginal gains or lost significant ground in key areas. As new sales in the South attest, the record pace is continuing.

MAN Roland’s Technology Tour at Graph Expo will provide opportunities to see the company’s latest generation of presses in working environments. Printers can register for the experience at manroland.com/graphexpo06.