South Africa’s Ben Hartman has been employed to head the division, who will develop a team of about six people to drive new business.

The product range, which will include rollers, blankets, chemistry, inks and more, will have a brand name of Exxel, and Haefeli was adamant that the full range will comprise only premium products. He envisages that the division will generate in the vicinity of $30-40 miilion for the company over the next three or four years.

“This is part of our commitment to offering our customers more,” he told ProPrint. “We’re not selling equipment, we’re selling solutions, and that covers from prepress, through press, to postpress technology.”

Quizzed about the prepress part of his statement, Haefeli merely smiled and said, “Watch this space”.

His ambition, he said, was to double turnover and triple profits in the next five years. While acquisitions are not out of the question, Haefeli sees much of the growth the company desires will come organically, “that we grow ourselves”.

MAN Ferrostaal Australia’s Markus Haefeli: “We’re ready to explode!”

“We’re ready to explode!” he said. “There will be three or four major suppliers in the Australasian market in the future. You need to be a press supplier, but have all the requirements that a customer needs to be an efficient and productive printer. That means more than just capital equipment though. It takes the full range of materials that a printer needs to be ahead of their competitors. We’re not talking about products any more, we’re talking about solutions.”

The new Roland 50 small format press was a welcome addition to the model line, according to Markus Haefeli. “The Roland 50 fills the gap we’ve had in our line of presses. It completes the picture for us. Printers now, whatever their format or size, can find a print solution in our range.”

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