Manroland Sheetfed appoints new managing director for UK facility

Print Solutions

Manroland Sheetfed has appointed Peter Redmond as managing director of its UK operations. Peter will oversee the company's operations and business development in the territory following former managing director Martin Hawley's departure to pursue new challenges.

With over 35 years experience of working in various sectors of the printing and packaging industry, Peter started his career as an apprentice at Rockwell Graphics Systems, helping to design the latest newspaper printing presses. After several years in the design office, gaining chartered engineering status, he moved across to the customer service department to take on the role of European customer services manager. Peter's next career move was UK national sales manager, Manroland Web Systems, specialising in newspaper printing presses, where together with the German sales team, he had great success selling new newspaper printing presses to national and regional newspapers across the UK. After two years, Peter moved to take up challenges in Manroland UK's sheetfed service arm to help build a successful client focused, profitable business unit. In 2010, Peter joined Komori UK to undertake a similar role, becoming European director of service operations, responsible for sheetfed service within EMEA region. More recently, he held the position of zone business director UK and Ireland for Bobst Web-fed division. This required him to quickly build a professional network, after moving from lithographic offset for the commercial/folded carton packaging print sector to the flexible packaging industry. Converters in the flexible packaging industry use a variety of processes to produce the final product; such as flexographic printing, rotogravure printing, lamination and coating applications. Peter said, ‘I am excited to be joining Manroland Sheetfed UK at a time of sustained profitability, ongoing growth and success, following its acquisition by Langley Holdings plc. The combination of German engineering design, technological innovation and client focus coupled with the strength and stability of a UK based international organisation had real appeal and made my decision to return to the company, after a nine year absence, quite an easy one. My initial focus will be to continue to build on the achievements of the former managing director, Martin Hawley.

‘I aim to fully utilise and tap into the company’s highly skilled and experienced UK workforce to enable our new and existing clients to continue to achieve outstanding operational performance. I very much look forward to meeting old and new acquaintances alike; upholding the strong traditions of Manroland Sheetfed GmbH and discussing the benefits of our current service and equipment portfolio.’ Rafael Penuela, CEO of Manroland Sheetfed GmbH, welcomed Peter back into the fold, saying: ‘We are totally committed to the printing market in the UK, and with Peter’s extensive experience in the print industry, we will continue to support our customers in the territory with the utmost dedication.’ He also thanked Martin Hawley for his significant contribution to the growth of the company’s operations in the UK. Martin Hawley said, ‘It has been an honour to have worked at Manroland Sheetfed UK for the last nine years, especially since its acquisition by the Langley Holdings group. The decision to leave the company was not an easy one but it will enable me to support my family’s ongoing future commitments. Manroland Sheetfed UK has been profitable every year since the acquisition by Langley and with the appointment of Peter Redmond and his knowledge of the industry, I can see it going from strength to strength.’