It's the machine on which manroland web systems is pinning much of its hopes for the future... but it's not designed to print newspapers or magazines.

From today, the German web-offset press maker is inviting prospective customers to take a look at its Varioman f:line press for flexible packaging, named for its ability to bring several print processes together.

The company says the approach combines the benefits of varied technologies and processes in a single platform while specifically avoiding the weak points of others. The pilot press is an offset gravure hybrid press based on the core competences of the Augsburg maker including mature design, system integration and service and maintenance packages.

The new press is being shown to customers and interested parties from around the globe in a live demo environment between February 27 and March 1.

manroland says it has based the Varioman on its decades of offset printing experience, and has connected this with the most modern automation. The mixture of offset and gravure provides particularly short makeready and changeover times with reduced start-up waste rates, achieved through high levels of automation and format flexibility. The f:line press shown is designed for flexible foils for shrink-sleeve applications as well as other substrates such as film, paper and aluminium foils, and fits medium-sized print runs.

The special offset printing units - developed with partner Goebel - offer the flexibility and quality of offset side, while gravure is used to deliver features such as varnishing, adhesives and opaque white.