Manroland Australasia managing director Steve Dunwell told ProPrint that the deal was "a logical partnership" that was "important for the strategic goals of Manroland Australasia".

"It's certainly something we'll look at getting our teeth into in Australia in 2011," he said. "We'll start looking at our customer base and see how it fits in with their needs."

Dunwell (pictured) described Oce's digital range as "a complementary market to our products", adding that he expected significant interest from the local market in the combined product offering.

"There's certainly a market for these products to be sold by someone like Manroland with our expertise in offset," he said.

Gerd Finkbeiner, chief executive of Manroland, said the deal opened up "a very promising growth market" for the manufacturer.

He said: "Digital printing already has a market share that cannot be underestimated. The print volume in digital printing is growing dynamically, particularly for short runs.

"Many of our customers are investing in digital printing. This is the first concrete step in opening up new growth opportunities for Manroland and in securing a lucrative field of business for the long term, because the area of digital printing is a business that increasingly supplements industrial printing."

Sebastian Landesberger, head of the strategic business unit within Océ's production printing division, added: "The strategic alliance with Manroland offers us the ideal opportunity to firmly establish Océ inkjet technology in the graphic arts industry.

"In the coming years, we will utilise our leading position in Europe and North America to expand our business, particularly in Asia and Eastern Europe."

Read the original article at www.printweek.com.

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