Augsburg

The sad news from Friday that manroland has filed for insolvency in its hometown of Augsburg, Germany should also light a beacon of awareness in the global printing and converting industry. As one who worked for manroland – MAN Roland as it was then - distributor Edwards Dunlop Graphics in the 1980s (although on the prepress side), I felt a particular pang of regret that this great contributor to world literacy, information and entertainment via the printed word, should find itself in such dire straits. In those days, EDG handled the sheetfed presses while Craven Print & Pack handled

August marks the 150th anniversary of German press manufacturer KBA’s Frankenthal production plant. The citizens of Frankenthal – and gravure printers the world over – still often refer to the company as Albert, even though this name was dropped in 1995. Common roots in Oberzell Founder Andreas Albert qualified as a master craftsman under Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Bauer – the inventors of the steam-powered cylinder printing press and founders of the world’s oldest press manufacturer –

Manroland said it is ready to move forward with its previously announced plan to eliminate 500 jobs and create a new services unit following an agreement with the work council representing its German employees. The agreement also included a supplementary wage agreement, manroland said. The workforce reduction, to be completed by the end of 2012, will affect all three of manroland's German facilities in Augsburg, Offenbach and Plauen. Additionally, manroland is transferring up to 300 workers to its new business unit, manroland Industrial Services, effective Jan. 1, 2011. The unit will offer consultancy and technical services. Manroland in September