Heidelberg Opens Brand New Purpose Built ‘Home of Print’

“All companies need to go through a transformation,” Clarence Penge, president of Heidelberg USA, told Printing Impressions during the grand opening of the company’s new “Home of Print” in Marietta, GA. “When you ask how did we get here after 32 years of being in the Kennesaw facility? We see the future being very different, and we need to change and adapt to what the future problems are — not today's problems with yesterday's thinking.”

He also described the new space as being “purpose built,” something that is evident when you take a step inside.

“So when we thought about a new facility, the concept was we need a new facility that is designed for better collaboration, better teamwork, with the end goal of helping our customers succeed and inspiring people to be the best,” he said. “The whole industry needs more training, needs more mentoring, and this facility really represents that space where everybody can come together and collaborate. … We want this to be a space where [customers] can come, they can test the products, they can see how integrated our solutions are. We want it to be an incredible training center for them, and the classes that we're offering them are important. But we built it also for our apprenticeship program.”

In addition to a demo lab with many of Heidelberg’s products and offerings on display, there is a data lab designed to give customers an inside look at their personalized operations, and an expanded training facility. A quarter of the space is now dedicated to this aspect — with 50% of the space dedicated to customers — serving as the primary training center in North America for technicians and customers.

The 176-year-old company brought together nearly 200 people for the grand opening and ribbon cutting showcasing not only its global reach – it’s a company with more than 11,000 connected machines and devices in 250 locations in 170 countries worldwide – but its impact on and dedication to its customers.

More than 200 customers, industry partners, trade media representatives, and HEIDELBERG employees gathered for the grand opening of HEIDELBERG's Print Media Center Americas – Home of Print in Marietta, Georgia. | Credit: Heidelberg

Hearing from the People

On the opening night, Heidelberg hosted a “Voices of Print” keynote address. Jim Singer, president and CEO of Broadnax 21C Printers in Dallas, TX; Mark Glendenning, owner and CEO of Inland Label and Marketing Services in La Crosse, WI; Mark Mills, president of Spectrum Packaging Corporation in Orlando, FL; and Adam Lefebvre, president of Specialty Print Communications in Niles, IL, took the stage to share their experiences with Heidelberg.

The panel discussed automation, investments, and their general evolution. Lefebvre shared that the company was a Heidelberg customer but moved to a new equipment provider for its offset needs. After just four years of having the new press, it decided to reinvest in a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 because of its better long-term reliability.

On the packaging side, Mills noted that before investing in the Speedmaster XL 106 its makeready times were on average 35 minutes (ranging from 20 minutes to an hour and a half depending on the job difficulty), but the new technology has decreased the company’s makeready to 12 minutes.

Glendenning addressed one of the most pervasive issues in the printing industry, the ongoing labor shortages. He explained print service providers really need good support, something that Heidelberg has been able to provide.

The “Voices of Print” keynote address featured (from left) Jim Singer, president and CEO of Broadnax 21C Printers; Mark Glendenning, owner and CEO of Inland Label and Marketing Services; Mark Mills, president of Spectrum Packaging Corporation; and Adam Lefebvre, president of Specialty Print Communications.

Singer shared that he has seen significant advances in production and efficiency with his Speedmaster Xl 106 and joked, “I never thought I would buy a press that expensive, but it’s paying off in dividends.”

The panel was followed by a 1:1 interview with Harold Hoff, VP of sales and service at Heidelberg Canada, interviewing Jay Mandarino, president and CEO of CJ Graphics in Mississauga, ON. It was revealed during the conversation that CJ Graphics would be taking  an order of the first Jetfire 50 in North America.

Mandarino explained that the Jetfire 50 would complement his Speedmaster XL 106 technology and that he spent two years evaluating other inkjet devices before deciding on the Heidelberg offering. He noted that part of the decision came down to the difficulty in deciphering the difference between the printed output on the Speedmaster Xl 106 and the Jetfire 50, they were so comparable.

In a press release sent out the day after the event, Heidelberg announced that in addition to the Jetfire 50 going to CJ Graphics, several additional orders were secured during the Home of Print grand opening event.

On the second day of the event, before attendees were invited to explore the new facility and learn about Heidelberg’s equipment and offerings on site, Pat McGrew of McGrew Group and Ryan McAbee of Pixel Dot Consulting, took the stage to share why “Your Press is Just One Cog in the Print Factory Wheel.”

McGrew told the attendees that their presentation initially had 50 slides, but that they distilled it down into just the “essential factors to help you make better decisions moving forward.”

They discussed how a faster press does not fix the business. Instead, it relocates the bottlenecks somewhere else in the shop. They noted that customers buy confidence, not feeds and speeds. They also pointed out that there is never just one big failure. Instead, it is a “dozen small missed handoffs” that result in bottlenecks.

Their solution to these problems? Understanding and implementing a connected factory, one that has every system and process designed to work together. This sentiment was a theme continued throughout the Heidelberg event as attendees explored and discussed the benefits of Prinect and connected workflows.

For Heidelberg, the opening of the Home of Print represents more than a change of address. It signals a broader transformation for a company with more than 175 years of history, one that recognizes the future of print will be defined by more than the capabilities of the press itself. From connected workflows and automation to workforce development and customer collaboration, Heidelberg is positioning its new facility as a place where the industry can address some of its most pressing challenges. And as Penge emphasized, preparing for the future requires a willingness to think differently today.

David Schmedding, CTO and CSO of Heidelberg and member of the management board (left), presents Heidelberg USA president and CEO Clarence Penge a Grand Opening plaque.