Commercial web printing giant PMP is solving an upgrade issue at its Perth plant by ordering not one, but two 48-page presses, configured to be capable of 96-pp production.

The fully-duplexed dual 48-page manroland Lithoman will be a world first.

It comes on top of a succession of large heatset presses, a positive boom in Australia’s ‘two-speed’ economy.

Recent months have seen orders for IPMG and Franklin Web, and a greenfield installation – based on two late model manroland presses – at Webstar in New Zealand.

Unlike the stacked 48-page Lithoman IPMG will install at its new Warwick Farm, Sydney, location next year, the PMP presses set for Bibra Lake (Perth) will be installed side-by-side, enabling them to be run separately or as a single 96-page press. This provides the flexibility to print higher paginations or multiple copies of the same product at the same time.

The Lithoman will have the latest automation and robotics, including closed loop control systems.

PMP says the extra capacity will permit local production of catalogue, magazine, heatset tabloid and insert products previously shipped from interstate, reducing costs and improving lead times.

The company’s WA general manager Clinton Willis says the investment adds strength to PMP’s national capability and brings “exciting opportunities” for its customers. “This means our customers and the WA market, will benefit from more efficient and flexible printing solutions to world class standards,” he says.

The new press is planned to be in production in September 2012. It replaces 30 year-old equipment at the site, and mirrors the newer presses at other PMP locations, ensuring consistency of print quality.

Chief executive Richard Allely says PMP has enjoyed a 30-year relationship with manroland which has been successful for both parties. “Clearly our major strategic partner, manroland has proven to be a reliable, long term supplier of equipment of the highest quality and performance,” he says.

“Perth is one of our more distant sites, so the 24/7 service offering of manroland was also considered important for this decision.”

Allely says the investment in Western Australia will make its Perth business a world leader: “It demonstrates our continuing confidence in the Australasian printing industry and our continued confidence in manroland.”

As others have before, PMP is taking advantage of a buyers’ market for press equipment and international and local manroland heads rushed to express their gratitude for the order and the expression of confidence it represents. A year ago, PMP was reported to have been thinking of a secondhand 64-page web for the Perth site.

manroland chief executive Gerd Finkbeiner described PMP as “one of our most valued customers” and congratulated them on choosing the company’s advanced technology: “I want to thank PMP for their very significant order and assure them of our utmost support throughout and after the completion of the project,” he said.

Managing Director of manroland Australasia Steve Dunwell also “greatly appreciated” the order and the confidence it provides. “We employ 35 specialist web technicians in Australasia so orders like this make our own investments worthwhile,” he said.

“This is one of several orders for very large commercial heatset presses placed in Australasia in recent times and that level of investment can only mean a great future for the industry as a whole.”

ASX-listed PMP reports revenues in excess of $A1 billion and employs more than 2600 staff across 16 locations in Australia and New Zealand, where it is the largest printer in both countries.

The company offers a complete range of end to end marketing solutions for the regions’ biggest retailers. This extends from mining of consumer information, through the full range of creative services, multi channel marketing and planning, printing and distribution to the mail box.

Commercial web presses are operated in the major centres of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in Australia, Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand.