manroland and Fairfax Media have exchanged compliments on the Australasian group's Petone print and mailroom upgrade.

The New Zealand print site of the Dominion Post has gained more flexible full-colour production with the installation of a manroland Geoman press and ferag mailroom equipment, mostly relocated from the closed Tullamarine, Melbourne, print centre (see GXpress, Upgraded Petone print site takes on Taranaki daily, May 25).

Aim of the Fairfax printing and logistics project in Wellington was to "make production future proof".

Plant manager Ricky Baker and group project manager Graham Wallacesay the German press manufacturer did "a fantastic job" together with the team on site, emphasising the cooperation and personal commitment of the manroland field workers. "What was obvious for all the involved people was the smooth and optimal handling of such a comprehensive and complex project.

The project was part of a comprehensive restructuring at in Australia and New Zealand confirmed February 2013. The Tullamarine Geoman was reconfigured, checked mechanically with updated electronics and an additional format options.

The press has been integrated into the earthquake-resistant architecture of the existing building.

Wallace says Fairfax decided to invest in basic modifications to reach the latest requirements for newspaper production, and this has been achieved. "Due to the restructuring and the upgrading of our presses, we could strengthen the leading market position of our newspapers and furthermore add the latest trends of the industry. manroland web systems has been a reliable partner during the entire the project phase," he says.

manroland web systems sales vice president Timothy Ruth says it was "a great challenge to support one of our most important customers" at reducing costs for production while at the same time increasing the quality and performance.

"We are happy about the fact that we could not only deliver high-class printing technology but also proof our abilities in project management by mastering the logistically and organisational challenges of this extremely complex project."