manroland was a shareholder of ppi Media before the press manufacturer announced its insolvency in November. Shortly after that, ppi, also based in Germany but with a global customer base, announced it was operating under its own accord and searching for new shareholders.

ppi Media managing directors Norbert Ohl and Martin Ruhle explain this new development with Evers-Frank.

WAN-IFRA: Evers-Frank is taking over as main shareholder of ppi Media along with Bertsch Innovation Group being part shareholder. What is the relationship between ppi and Bertsch Innovation Group?

NORBERT OHL: Bertsch Innovation Group is a long-standing cooperation partner of the Evers-Frank Group and since recently a shareholder of ppi Media GmbH. ppi Media and Bertsch Innovation Group combine classical print solutions and digital innovations to new, cross-media products and services, not only for the publishing industry.

MARTIN RUHLE: ppi Media will continue to offer its classical products for publishing houses and printing operations. Our full range of familiar solutions will continue to be made available, , managed and further developed. Moreover, we are continuing to gradually expand our cross-media business. We are working together with the Evers-Frank Group and Bertsch Innovation Group in a network for digital solutions in order to capture new markets as well as share and exchange knowledge and experience.

WAN-IFRA: The strategic direction of manroland didn't quite fit with ppi Media, in terms of manroland focusing so much on print. On the face of it, Evers-Frank appears to be focused on offset printing services, which I assume is not the case. Could you tell us more about their strategic vision?

RUHLE: In the last years, the Evers-Frank Group has changed from being a classical offset printing operation to become a digital service provider. Today, the group consists of three corporate divisions: EversFrankprint, EversFrankmedia, EversFranknature. From the organisational point of view, ppi Media is assigned to EversFrankmedia. Together with the Evers-Frank Group, we aim to expand our solutions and develop new products. For example, with corporate publishing we are now jointly entering what is for ppi Media a new product environment.

OHL: With the Evers-Frank Group as new main shareholder we are continuing to serve our customers in all markets with our complete product portfolio – from newspaper planning to the iPad app. In addition, the financial stability of the Evers-Frank Group will guarantee the necessary economic independence, to the benefit also of ppi Media.

WAN-IFRA: Where are some of the obvious synergies you see emerging with Bertsch Innovation Group?

RUHLE: The synergies between ppi Media and Bertsch Innovation Group lie in the different competencies. ppi Media continues in many cases to be regarded as a software producer exclusively for print products, despite the fact that for many years we have been offering cross-media solutions with major success and are well acquainted with the needs of publishing houses for their print and online offering. The Bertsch Innovation Group is a specialist for social media, new media in general and digital solutions. Each partner can benefit from the experience and know-how of the other. In this way new product sectors can be quickly entered and applications are developed to satisfy the requirements of publishing houses even better than the existing offerings.

WAN-IFRA: How has this interim uncertain situation up till now affected ppi Media? Norbert Ohl mentioned in a previous interview the order book for 2012 was looking promising... Any details on that?

OHL: There are several good news items. First: ppi Media continues to employ all 135 personnel at its locations in Kiel, Hamburg and Chicago. Second: We have retained all our customers. Our order books are even a lot fuller than last year. We expect growth rates in excess of 10 percent for this year compared to 2011. This positive forecast is based on several confirmed orders from new customers worldwide. These include: a large media house in Singapore, Media Norge (Norway), Wetzlar Druck (Germany) and La Prensa (Panama).

WAN-IFRA: How will the cooperation with manroland be in the future?

OHL: Our solutions are optimally attuned to manroland presses and products. Our many years of close cooperation enable us to supply software solutions that perfectly match the complex requirements of the printing equipment and that can get the best out of the presses. For example, the ppi Media Output Management solution permits the most highly efficient operation of manroland presses. For this reason, we will continue to cooperate with manroland in a spirit of friendship and partnership.