Eckhard Horner-Marass has been appointed to the vacant managing director position at Manroland Web Systems.

The appointment follows the establishment of the former Manroland web division as an independent company when it was bought out of administration by Possehl Group.

Horner-Marass has a strong background in manufacturing having spent more than a decade on the management boards of various large German companies, including Zeppelin Baumaschinen and the €100m turnover Holzma Plattenaufteiltechnik, where he was managing director from 2002.

Uwe Luders, chairman of the executive board of Possehl, who will now withdraw from the operative business, said: "I am glad that with Eckhard Horner-Marass we found an entrepreneurial managing director who is going to lead and bring forward the Manroland Web Systems [business] together with the established management team."

Meanwhile, Possehl confirmed that Manroland Web Systems would meet expectations in the first fiscal year since the insolvency of its predecessor "in spite of a difficult market environment as far as sales and profits are concerned".

It added that its acquisition of the Augsberg factory from the administrators of Manroland affirmed its long-term commitment to the site.