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How Manroland Sheetfed Regained Liquidity and Customer Satisfaction through Digital Service Transformation

GeneralReference report

Published: 11/24/2025

1. Introduction — Why Field Service Management is more than an app

2. What are the pitfalls of Manroland Sheetfed’s two-tier service model?

3. What were the concrete problems?

4. How could Manroland Sheetfed eliminate the root causes?

5. Why the integrated approach wins?

6. How was the implementation carried out?

7. Lessons learned and recommendations for decision makers

8. Conclusion

The greatest leverage in service does not lie in revenue growth, but in consistently shortening the cash conversion cycle.
Martin Rose
Head of PS-Administration & Data Protection Office

1. Why Field Service Management is more than an app

For a long-established machine manufacturer (founded in 1871, HQ Offenbach am Main, 1,420 employees) with 120 dispatchers and around 350 technicians, the lesson was clear: only targeted digital transformation and an integrated field service management concept can sustainably secure cash flow, on-time performance and customer satisfaction.

In this article, Martin Rose from Manroland Sheetfed shares his experiences in problem identification, selecting a solution and practical implementation.

You can also download the presentation (german) from the VDMA event with Manroland Sheetfed here for free:

VDMA presentation (german)

2. What are the pitfalls of Manroland Sheetfed’s two-tier service model?

Manroland Sheetfed is globally positioned with more than 40 market organizations (MOs) that have their own sales and service responsibilities.
The biggest advantage of wide global coverage is local proximity to customers. The biggest disadvantage is the high coordination cost between MOs.

Graphic showing two colored boxes: “01 Headquarters – Development and Manufacturing” and “02 Local Subsidiaries – Sales and Service Partners.” To the right is a world map with multiple marked locations across Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, representing global subsidiary sites.

The two-tier business model (HQ + local MOs) led to organizational friction and fragmented system landscapes (ERP / CRM / FSM / PLM often not integrated) and thus to two central pain points:

Late revenues due to long billing cycles (high DSO).
Poor on-time performance in service, with long customer waiting times and risk to follow-on revenue and customer retention.

The root causes were typical for complex service organizations with multiple locations: media breaks, manual work, lack of transparency about capacities and skills across MOs, and isolated planning processes without synergies.

3. What were the concrete problems? KPIs, root-cause analysis and business perspective

Manroland Sheetfed consciously decided against superficial measures for problem identification and relied on a KPI-driven root-cause analysis.

The finding: billing delays did not primarily stem from accounting processes, but from missing, incorrect or late operational data (timesheets, service reports), a fragmented tool landscape, increased lead times and error susceptibility — in short, a loss of operational efficiency.

At the same time, capacity analysis showed that skilled personnel are scarce and short-term ramp-up is hardly possible. The biggest leverage lies in better resource planning and workforce scheduling — i.e., making existing resources globally visible and flexibly deployable.

Two dark blue text boxes with a red accent on the left, placed over a faint world map. The left box reads “No seamless, digital ‘Field’ process,” and the right box reads “Isolated planning processes – No central control.”

4. How could Manroland Sheetfed eliminate the root causes?

The analysis produced a clear target picture:

FSM

as the operational backbone for dispatch with scheduling and a mobile app for service technicians

+

Customer Service Platform (CSP)

as the “face to the customer” with a webshop, digital machine records, project planning and controlling

The result:

Service optimization along the entire customer journey, stabilization of cash flow and improved customer experiences.

Key requirements for the solution:

Modern scheduling for technicians, tools and vehicles
Replacement of Excel fragments
Reduction of manual processes in travel expense settlement and follow-up
Seamless integrations with ERP and inventory systems

Circular diagram illustrating the “360° Digital Service Department” with multiple colored segments. The outer ring includes steps such as “Order spare parts,” “Request service,” “Plan deployment,” “Assign resources,” “Transmit deployment,” and “Create reports.” The inner ring displays icons and terms such as machine file, webshop, deployment planning, project overview, resources, job folder, chat function, timesheets, and checklists. The center reads “360° Digital Service Department.”

5. Why the integrated approach wins — solution and partner selection

After market review, the choice fell on a combination: Bauer+Kirch to develop a CSP including a webshop, and Bauer+Kirch’s FSM platform fieldux for the operational planning of service tasks.

Decisive criterion: a partner who delivers both technological and methodological expertise. This minimized interface risks and accelerated implementation.

Workshops with a user-centered approach, customer-journey mapping and early mock-ups ensured the solution actually fit all stakeholders from technicians and dispatchers to HQ managers from the start.

The workshops showed us that Bauer+Kirch not only provides the technology but also the methodological approach that enables a tailored, practical 360° service organization.
Martin Rose
Head of PS-Administration & Data Protection Office

6. How was the implementation carried out? Roadmap, quick wins and integration focus

The rollout was planned in stages:

FSM pilot in the core market (HQ + MO DE),
Iterative feedback and continuous onboarding of additional users
Parallel development of the CSP
Rollout to further MOs

One essential insight from implementation: Integration is a critical success factor! Therefore, priority was clearly placed on interfaces, master data quality and change management.
(Read more here: SAP integration at manroland sheetfed )

The next planned milestone is the webshop go-live in early 2026 and the widespread deployment of fieldux FSM beyond HQ and MO DE.

7. How to succeed in digital service transformation? Lessons learned and recommendations for decision makers

The key learnings can be summarized as follows:

Define KPIs and goals early
Clear metrics steer decisions.
Pilot and iterative rollout
Fast, small wins build trust.
Maintain continuous change management
Provide training, foster participation, and create quick success experiences.
Prioritize integration and data quality
Systems are only as good as their data.
Think strategically about partner selection
Technology + methodology from a single source reduces risk.

8. Service optimization as a lever for growth and stability

The Manroland story shows: Field service management and smart resource planning are more than efficiency projects. They are levers for liquidity, customer satisfaction and strategic competitiveness.

Those who digitally map end-to-end processes, eliminate media breaks and optimize workforce scheduling across silos gain immediate financial room for maneuver and strengthen their long-term market position.

For service organizations at a similar point, the core message is: prioritize integration, measure the right KPIs and think of digital transformation as a holistic service ecosystem, not a one-off tool introduction.

Did you miss Manroland Sheetfed’s presentation on service transformation at the VDMA and want to learn more?
You can download the presentation (german) here for free: