RotaDyne-made rollers for Heidelberg customers will be supplied from the UK following the closure of the company's Australian manufacturing facility last week.

However the company is withdrawing from other graphic arts markets and has closed its factory in Cheltenham, Victoria. Its OEM contract with Heidelberg will be fulfilled from RotaDyne's plant in Kettering, UK.

Confirming the closure, managing director Angus Scott - who told GXpress he was not authorised to speak further about it - added that he was "looking for a job".

US parent Rotation Dynamics Corp moved in on the Australian market just over two years ago, snapping up Scott's Ace Rollers/Rollmakers business to use as a basis for its Asia Pacific regional growth.

Then president Tom Gilson said the US giant was taking up a massive opportunity to extend its global market share: Australasia and Africa were the only two markets in the world in which it was not active.

But Gilson - a former US navy commander and Procter & Gamble executive - has moved on and the Australian operation is now apparently being viewed in a different light. Printing is only one of 30 market areas in the industrial manufacturing sector - including aerospace, agriculture and housing - featured in the company's new website.

The closure comes at a time when RotaDyne was thought to be making traction in the Australian market following successful trials with prospective customers including heatset printer AIW, and a substantial contract for Manila, the Philippines.

Angus Scott established the Ace/Rollmakers business after leaving Brissett Rollers - with German-owned Böttcher one of the major players in the local market - and a new Cheltenham factory was established soon after the RotaDyne takeover.

Scott has been active in the local industry through the company's membership of the Graphic Arts Merchants Association of Australia (GAMAA) and Single Width Users Group, for which he had regularly hosted annual scholarship tours.

Headquartered in Darien, Illinois, RotaDyne (no connection with the Australian plastic moulding company of the same name) was founded in 1908 and had grown to more than 36 locations.

Pictured: Angus Scott among delegates at last year's SWUG conference in Darwin