Manroland Sheetfed reports that, now into its fourth consecutive year of profitability, it looks set to record one of its most successful years
Rafael Penuela, chief executive at Manroland Sheetfed, points to a 30 per cent increase in new order intakes as evidence the company has turned a corner. He says, “2015 will be the fourth year in a row where we will remain profitable – and most probably it will be the best out of the last four years.”
In the black: Rafael Penuela, chief executive at Manroland Sheetfed
Looking to the future, he sees a positive outlook for the global print industry generally adding that it will continue in a consolidation phase but that some areas, including packaging print, look set for appreciable growth. He believes offset and digital will continue to co-exist. He says, “I am still convinced that there is no cheaper and more efficient way of industrial production of paper and board than offset printing when it comes to cost per copy.”
He adds that offset printing offers, “nearly endless possibilities of inline enhancements.”
In order to address current problems of market maturity, lower profitability, environmental issues and lack of personnel training, Penuela urges printers to learn from the mistakes of the past and to adopt two important strategies to deal with them. The first of these involves becoming a cost leader by specialising in certain products and the second concerns specialising in value-adding processes. He also points to the importance of training staff to take full advantage of the latest technology.
