Renting a manroland engineer could be the way of the future as the German press maker looks at ways of expanding its maintenance service activities.

The company is also extending its services to include looking after other manufacturers' equipment. Contract packages include "all components of every other supplier", providing a single-supplier benefit with the highest warranty level.

Service offerings are being constantly developed and renewed, with the aim of directly reducing costs and increasing productivity and flexibility - and include consultation about the ideal wear and spare parts, training, "classical" repair services, upgrade and automation solutions.

"The focus lies on developing new concepts with automated solutions according to Industry 4.0 but also in offering all solutions from a single source," says a spokesperson.

manroland says Paarl Media and CTP in South Africa, Nation Media (Kenya), and Mediengruppe Oberfranken, Möller Druck and MDZ in Germany are among printers worldwide which have recently opted for the new service for existing presses and also new investments.