At the German press maker's PrintEx11 stand, senior staff joined with Océ executives to communicate the significance of their convergence.

Bleeding-edge inline digital finishing technology is the first development to come out of the R&D relationship, said Manroland Australasia managing director Steve Dunwell.

The two companies have collaborated on a folding solutionfor high-volume book and newspaper printing.

Dunwell also revealed that key Australian Manroland and Océ customers will get their first taste of the real-world impact of thealliance when they head to Offenbach, Germany on 14-16 May and the Océ Production Printing Summit in Munich on 7-10 June.

Océ business unit director Tim Saleeba was on the Manroland stand to tell ProPrint that the pair have several top-level Australian print operations on the hook for future developments.

"We are letting our customers know that we are working on all of this, and there will be a lot more developments in the weeks to come," he said.

Beyond the R&D side, the deal also includes a sales tie-up, with Manroland to sell Océ's range of continuous-feed inkjet presses.

Dunwell said the two companies have "natural synergies" and will develop technology for large-scale, high-volume sheetfed, web and "industrial digital" platforms.

They'll be eyeing up customers with an appetite for big production volumes, said Dunwell. "You've got to know you have the work for it before you make the decision to invest in it."

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