Heidelberg Expands Grand-Format and Cut-Sheet Digital Printing Offerings

Heidelberg’s partnership with EFI VUTEk is intended to support commercial printers in growing their core businesses by offering flexible solutions and achieving tighter alignment with their client base. By adding digital wide- and grand-format technology to its portfolio, Heidelberg gives printers the ability to complete the high-margin jobs—posters, banners, backlit signage, outside displays, as well as specialty fine art reproduction, fabric and upholstery decorating and package prototyping—services and products that their customers used to go elsewhere to buy.

All VUTEk and EFI Rastek equipment is serviced by Heidelberg and (optionally) integrated via Prinect Color Toolbox, Heidelberg’s full-spectrum solution for multi-process color management.

Sheetfed Offset Quality in a Short-Run Digital Solution
Heidelberg, which began supplying the Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition press last year, also has expanded its cooperation with Ricoh, adding the Ricoh Pro C651EX/C751EX/C751 digital presses for short runs to its portfolio of cut-sheet digital solutions. These new color production-class machines offer the latest technology platform in electrophotographic color presses to deliver high quality and stability from the first sheet in a job to the last.

Technologies include: chemically prepared toner, 4800 dpi image quality with VSCEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) technology, oil-less belt fusing, and TCRUs (Customer Replaceable Units), which enable operators to quickly replace eight key imaging components, including the fusing unit, charger roller and paper feed rollers. Clean sheet paper handling includes active image-to-sheet registration resulting in an outstanding 0.5mm on a 13x19˝ sheet and stocks up to 300 gsm.

These models represent a significant value for commercial printers in need of a flexible, powerful production printer that delivers high-quality color output, maximum throughput, and high uptime. For even greater productivity and cost-effectiveness on shorter-run jobs, an assortment of robust time- and labor-saving in-line finishing options is available.

Building on Heidelberg’s 2011 launch of the Ricoh Pro C901, these digital color presses give printers the ability to produce near-sheetfed offset quality work on a wide variety of stocks commonly used in commercial printing. Advanced technology ensures stable image quality and maximum productivity at an affordable price point and lower operating cost.

To facilitate the handling of both traditional and digitally printed materials, commercial printers also can look forward to further expanding the range of finishing applications they can offer to their customers with Heidelberg’s DG Creaser, 714XA/XLT; USA B20 Stahlfolder SPS (slit, perf, score); as well as POLAR’s forthcoming line of cutters with operator guidance and networking, Eurobind EB600/1300 adhesive binder, and versatile, affordable KAMA die cutting and folder-gluing equipment.

Best of Both Worlds at Your Fingertips
As of drupa 2012, all of Heidelberg’s short-run, cut-sheet digital print solutions for the commercial printing sector will be grouped under the name Heidelberg Linoprint C. The Linoprint C series will be presented with Heidelberg’s new Prinect Digital Print Manager, which enables print shops to manage and calculate both their offset and digital print jobs from a single workflow. This powerful solution provides users with a highly efficient, transparent digital print workflow with a wide range of functions, including variable data management, postpress with digital inline finishing systems, and a document-oriented workflow.