What Tolerans AB does

Tolerans AB is a privately held Swedish industrial engineering company headquartered in Älta (Stockholm area) that designs, manufactures, and services in-line stitching systems for web offset printing presses. The company's product portfolio is organized around two families — cylinder stitchers (which staple publications against the folding cylinder) and ribbon stitchers (located under the former board) — spanning the high-end shaftless servo-driven SPEEDLINER 2.0 line, the cost-efficient mechanically-driven SPEEDLINER LT line, and the affordable CompactStitch line, complemented by the FLOWLINER Former lateral stitching solution for broadsheet and Berliner formats and a range of slitter modules (Motorised Tab Slitter, Double Motorised Tab Slitter, Skip Slitter). Core technology is described as modular, shaftless, servo-driven stitching capable of running at full press speed (up to 120,000–144,000 cph depending on configuration), with patented miniaturization (S60 Ribbon at 100mm height) and proprietary lateral-format stitching as headline differentiators.

The company sells to newspaper publishers and commercial printers through a hybrid model combining direct enterprise field sales, a worldwide network of agents and distributors (with password-protected partner portal), and a Sweden-based service support center offering remote diagnostics via modem or Ethernet. Revenue is generated across seven streams: new stitching equipment, customized wear-and-spare-part kits, maintenance and repair service contracts, equipment refurbishment, control-system upgrades (notably Elau-to-B&R retrofits for 2001–2010 systems), refurbished/used equipment, and contract engineering services. Pricing is positioned against total cost of ownership, with stated stitching costs below EUR 0.40 per 1,000 copies based on a 250,000-copy-per-day benchmark, and the company references an installed base of more than 2,000 stitchers across 70+ countries.

Customers are predominantly large newspaper publishers (New York Times, The Guardian, Times of India, The Hindu, South China Morning Post, Helsing Sanomat, Handelsblatt, El Tiempo, Axel Springer, Dallas Morning News, News International, Trinity Mirror, among others) and commercial printers. In November 2020 the company expanded beyond its core stitching franchise by acquiring HDD Sweden AB, a maker of high-density ultra-compact servo motors, to extend into broader machine-industry and robotic applications. Tolerans holds ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications (DNV GL) and operates as a private limited company under Swedish law, with Jan Melin as CEO and Tomas Annerstedt as VP of Sales & Technology (per 2018 press release).

Name

Tolerans AB

Legal name

Tolerans AB

Website

https://www.tolerans.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1947

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tolerans AB is a privately held Swedish engineering company that designs, manufactures, and services in-line stitching systems — cylinder and ribbon stitchers, slitters, and the FLOWLINER Former — for newspaper publishers and commercial printers globally, with 2,000+ installations across 70+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Printing Finishing Equipment

NAICS

Printing and Related Support Activities (3231), Printing and Related Support Activities (323), Support Activities for Printing (323120)

SIC

Printing Trades Machinery & Equipment (3555)

akta.pro primary industry

Finishing & Post-Press Services (Cutting, Folding, Collating, Laminating, Foil, Emboss) (MPAJALAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Commercial & Offset Printing (Sheetfed/Web) (MPAJALAB)

Keywords

• Inline stitching systems
• Newspaper printing equipment
• Web offset stitching
• Commercial print finishing
• Printing slitting equipment

Headquarters

HQ city

Stockholm

HQ country

Sweden

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Stitching Equipment Sales: Sale of in-line stitching systems including SPEEDLINER 2.0, SPEEDLINER S60, CompactStitch, and FLOWLINER Former. Systems are sold as new equipment, installed in web offset presses for newspaper and commercial print production.
2. Spare Parts & Wear Parts: Customized wear part kits designed for replacement at specific intervals. Kits include stitching cylinder wear parts, cutting unit parts, feeding box parts, wire infeeder parts, and DrumTop components. Pre-set factory settings enable quicker replacement with less downtime.
3. Maintenance & Repair Services: Service contracts with preventative maintenance visits, machine cleaning, wear part replacement, and test runs at full production speed. Remote support available via modem or Ethernet for immediate issue resolution.
4. System Upgrades: Control system upgrades for older SPEEDLINER Mk1 and Mk2 systems, replacing obsolete Elau components with modern B&R controllers and servo drives. Extends service life and secures production.
5. Equipment Refurbishment: Major overhaul service including disassembly, replacement of all worn parts, reassembly, testing, and reinstallation. Extends stitcher service life at lower cost than new equipment purchase.
6. Used/Refurbished Equipment: Supply of refurbished stitching equipment for customers seeking lower investment costs. All vital parts replaced, systems tested before sale.
7. Contract Engineering Services: End-to-end solutions within technical design, supply chain design, and sourcing. Engineering services drawing on 60+ years of experience in customized machinery and equipment creation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Tolerans AB designs, manufactures and services in-line stitching systems for web offset printing presses used by newspaper publishers and commercial printers. Its SPEEDLINER, CompactStitch and FLOWLINER product families staple publications together during full-speed press production. The company also supplies complementary slitters, wear/spare parts, refurbishment, upgrades and remote support services.

Product overview

Tolerans AB is the world leader in in-line stitching technology for newspapers and commercial print. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of stitching solutions organized around two main product lines: Cylinder stitchers (SPEEDLINER 2.0 Cylinder, CompactStitch Cylinder, Speedliner LT Cylinder) that stitch against the folding cylinder, and Ribbon stitchers (SPEEDLINER 2.0 Ribbon, SPEEDLINER 2.0 Doubleround Ribbon, SPEEDLINER S60 Ribbon, CompactStitch Ribbon, SPEEDLINER LT Ribbon) located under the former board. The flagship SPEEDLINER family ranges from basic mechanically-driven LT models to high-end shaftless servo-driven 2.0 systems capable of 120,000-140,000 cph. Complementing the stitchers are slitter products (Motorised Tab Slitter, Double Motorised Tab Slitter, Skip Slitter) for clean tabloid format cuts, plus a FLOWLINER Former for lateral stitching of broadsheet/Berliner formats. The company also provides extensive services including wear/spare parts programs, maintenance & repair, refurbishment, upgrades, remote support, and contract engineering services. In 2020, Tolerans acquired HDD Sweden AB to add ultra-compact servo motors to its portfolio.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SPEEDLINER®: World's best-selling family of in-line stitching systems for newspapers and commercial print, including SPEEDLINER 2.0, SPEEDLINER LT, and SPEEDLINER S60 models.
• CompactStitch
• FLOWLINER Former

Products and services

• SPEEDLINER 2.0 Cylinder High-end, shaftless, modular cylinder stitcher capable of running beyond full press production speed, stitching against the folding cylinder for newspapers and commercial print products up to 144 pages. Targeted at high-output newspaper and commercial print operations.
• CompactStitch Cylinder Affordable, fully shaftless and servo-driven in-line cylinder stitching system offering basic, cost-effective stitching functionality for continuous production up to 60,000 cph. Targeted at printers seeking entry-level in-line stitching.
• SPEEDLINER LT Cylinder Mechanically driven stitcher for cross-web tabloid-size products, focused on low running costs without compromising performance. Targeted at printers needing economical tabloid-format stitching.
• SPEEDLINER 2.0 Ribbon High-end, compact, shaftless ribbon stitching system located under the former board for newspaper sections, capable of running beyond full production speed up to 120,000 cph. Targeted at high-output newspaper section stitching.
• SPEEDLINER 2.0 Doubleround Ribbon Full speed, shaftless ribbon stitcher with high volume capacity for short-grain commercial print, using a double-round design that stitches two copies each cylinder lap up to 140,000 cph. Targeted at high-volume commercial printers.
• SPEEDLINER S60 Ribbon Patented compact ribbon stitcher requiring only half the space of traditional stitchers (100mm height), saving up to 80% on press superstructure investment. Enables stitching in presses that previously lacked space. Targeted at printers retrofitting stitching into space-constrained presses.
• CompactStitch Ribbon Affordable in-line ribbon stitching system half the size of traditional ribbon stitchers at only 100mm height and 45kg weight. Designed for printing operations that lack in-line stitching capability.
• SPEEDLINER LT Ribbon Mechanically driven ribbon stitcher for cross-web tabloid-size products, with minimum moving parts and low running costs. Targeted at cost-sensitive tabloid production.
• FLOWLINER Former Lateral stitching solution for broadsheet and Berliner formats and the world's first solution enabling stitching of full-size formats inside the press at the former. Creates new revenue streams by allowing full-size newspapers to be stitched in-line. Targeted at broadsheet/Berliner newspaper publishers.
• Motorised Tab Slitter Motorized tab slitter producing scissor-like clean cuts of small-format printed products, cutting up to 8 webs on 55 gsm paper with spring-loaded knife technology. Targeted at printers needing precise tabloid-format cuts.
• Double Motorised Tab Slitter Revolutionary tab slitter with spring-loaded contact point technology producing clean, dustless, aesthetic cuts in highly-paginated printed products. Both upper and lower knives are actively driven, supporting up to 12 webs on 55 gsm paper. Targeted at printers producing highly paginated products.
• Skip Slitter Fully shaftless, servo-driven skip slitting system for independent production of tabloid sections while the main section remains in broadsheet format, producing scissor-like clean cuts. Targeted at printers producing mixed-format newspapers.
• Refurbished Stitching Equipment Refurbished stitching equipment with all vital parts replaced and systems tested before sale, providing a lower investment alternative to new equipment. Targeted at printers seeking cost-effective entry into in-line stitching.
• Wear & Spare Parts Program Customized wear and spare part kits designed for replacement at specific intervals, including stitching cylinder wear parts, cutting unit parts, feeding box parts, wire infeeder parts and DrumTop components. Pre-set factory settings enable quicker replacement with less downtime. Targeted at existing Tolerans equipment owners.
• Maintenance & Repair Services Complete service program with preventive maintenance visits, machine cleaning, wear part replacement, test runs at full production speed, and remote support via modem or Ethernet for immediate issue resolution. Targeted at installed-base customers.
• Refurbishment Services Major overhaul service in which equipment is disassembled, all worn parts replaced, reassembled, tested and reinstalled to extend stitcher service life at lower cost than new equipment purchase. Targeted at owners of aging Tolerans equipment.
• Control System Upgrade (Mk1/Mk2 to Mk3) Control system upgrade for SPEEDLINER 2001-2010 systems that replaces obsolete Elau components with modern B&R controllers and servo drives, extending service life and securing production for older installed-base equipment. Targeted at owners of legacy SPEEDLINER Mk1 and Mk2 systems.
• Remote Support Service Remote technical support delivered via modem or Ethernet connection, with experienced technicians providing telephone-based issue resolution, service interval monitoring and integrated service instructions regardless of geographic location. Targeted at installed-base customers worldwide.
• Contract Engineering Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Stitching cost less than EUR 0.40 per 1,000 copies including all costs (investment, implementation, wire)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• HDD Sweden ABcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 November 2020HDD Sweden AB was acquired by Tolerans AB on November 1, 2020. HDD provides high density and ultra-compact servo motors for machine industry applications. The motors feature high power and torque density, excellent for robotic applications and direct drive due to high torsional stiffness and low cogging torque. Tolerans and HDD had been partners for a long time and co-located since 2019, leading to this natural acquisition step.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Heidelberger Druckmaschinen: Heidelberg is one of the world's largest manufacturers of printing presses and related finishing equipment for commercial and packaging print. A broad incumbent in the same industry, with overlapping finishing capabilities but operating at much greater scale across the full printing value chain.
• Koenig & Bauer: Koenig & Bauer is a major German manufacturer of printing presses serving newspapers, commercial, packaging, and security print. A broad incumbent that competes as a press OEM integrator with finishing subsystems adjacent to Tolerans' stitching portfolio.
• manroland Goss: manroland Goss is a leading manufacturer of web offset printing presses for newspapers and commercial printing. The press OEM whose systems Tolerans stitches integrate into (as in the Markbladet Tryckeri Manugraph press installation), making it both a critical channel partner and a broad incumbent in the same end-market.

Direct peers

• C.P. Bourg: C.P. Bourg manufactures inline finishing and binding equipment including stitchers and book-on-demand systems for commercial and digital print. Comparable niche competitor to Tolerans in print finishing automation, though with a stronger tilt toward on-demand/digital print applications.
• EAE (Engineering Automation Electronics): EAE is a Dutch-based supplier of inline finishing, stacking, and logistics systems for newspaper and commercial printing plants. Directly comparable as a finishing-equipment peer serving the same web offset press customer base.
• Müller Martini: Müller Martini is a Swiss-headquartered global leader in print finishing, including saddle stitchers and binding systems for newspapers, magazines, and commercial print. Directly comparable to Tolerans in finishing equipment for the printing industry, with overlapping customers in newspaper and commercial print segments.
• Ferag: Ferag is a Swiss specialist in conveying, processing, and stitching/inserting solutions for the print and mail industry. Competes directly with Tolerans in stitching and inline finishing technology for newspaper and commercial print production lines.

Regional players

• Manugraph: Manugraph is an India-based web offset press manufacturer serving newspaper and commercial printers primarily across South Asia, Africa, and emerging markets. Comparable as a press-side peer to Tolerans in installed-base geographies and stitching-integration use cases (e.g., Markbladet Tryckeri deployment).

Others

• Maxcess (Fife, Tidland, MAGPOWR): Maxcess supplies web-handling components and automation solutions (including slitting and tension control) for converting and printing operations. Adjacent technology peer serving the same web offset press customer base as Tolerans, focused on ancillary web-handling rather than stitching specifically.
• QUAD/Graphics: QUAD/Graphics is one of the largest commercial printers in North America, operating extensive web offset and finishing infrastructure. Comparable as a downstream customer/user of in-line stitching systems rather than a competitor; relevant for understanding Tolerans' commercial printer end-market.

Market position

Strengths2 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tolerans-ab

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tolerans AB