With the collapse of Langley Holdings’ manroland Sheetfed business, Heidelberg has grabbed the opportunity of a direct relationship with its former rival’s customers.
We’re waiting on confirmation that local manroland sheetfed users in Australia and New Zealand will still be able to get parts and service from their local manroland Web Systems unit, however.
An agreement with Heidelberg is expected following an announcement that UK-based Langley Holdings – which owns manroland Sheetfed – was transferring the sheetfed business’s global service and spare parts business to Heidelberg Druckmaschinen.
Langley had already announced that production in Offenbach, Germany, would be wound down following continued significant losses in its print technologies division, and the manroland Sheetfed business entered insolvency proceedings in March. The Langley group itself had reported record performance in its 2025 year.
The new agreement with Heidelberg includes market organisations in “around 35 countries” as well as related intellectual property, selected assets, and about 600 employees. Included is IP relating to the Roland 900/Cartonmaster large-format press.
There are reported to still be more than 3,000 manroland sheetfed users worldwide, and these will continue to be supported by “familiar local contacts”, while gaining access Heidelberg’s global service network and spare parts infrastructure, the company says.
Privately-owned Langley Holdings acquired the German sheetfed division in 2012 from the break-up of the former Manroland AG, and says it has financially supported the business for more than a decade since, in what chairman and chief executive Anthony Langley described as “a hugely challenging period for the global printing press industry”.
Heidelberg chief executive Jürgen Otto said his company was “actively driving” the consolidation of the industry.
“For us, this acquisition is more than just a strategic move – it is a deliberate continuation of a shared industrial history and a clear commitment to the future of printing press manufacturing, which we, as a technology group, will continue to shape innovatively,” he said.
Pictured: Langley’s Gladiator sailing team in the 2024 52 Super Series off Valencia, Spain, in which it finished third