#Ipex: Innovations from Heidelberg Designed to Boost Efficiency, Competitiveness
HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—At this year's IPEX trade show in the U.K. city of Birmingham from May 18 to 25, 2010, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will be showcasing the latest developments in its product and service portfolio. The company's stand in Hall 8 will focus on current market trends such as lean, environmentally friendly production for print shops. "Our aim is to ensure that our customers are well positioned to face future challenges, and we will work with them to develop and successfully implement new business options in a changing environment," stated Heidelberg CEO Bernhard Schreier.
Heidelberg still offers the best price-performance ratio in the industry thanks to numerous prepress, press and postpress innovations combined with the integration of all process steps. The successful entry of Heidelberg into the large-format sector in 2008 underlines the fact that innovations and, above all, greater customer benefits are the driving forces behind investments in the industry. "For Heidelberg, IPEX is a trend barometer and also an opportunity for the printing industry in 2010," said Schreier.
Despite initial positive signs in some parts of the world, it is still too soon to anticipate a significant turnaround in the economy in the near future. "Companies who invest in new technologies and new areas of business now, though, will be well positioned for the future," stated Schreier. Heidelberg would be using the trade show to continue redefining parts of the market with further innovations, he said. "Our customers expect us to boost their competitiveness with the latest technologies and a comprehensive service portfolio. We will definitely meet their expectations at IPEX," he stressed.
Heidelberg provides local support for its customers with a wide range of services that pave the way for sustainable business success. "We will also optimize and expand our range of products and services," stated Schreier. The digital printing was a market segment with excellent prospects that customers would increasingly add to their portfolios and for which Heidelberg was looking for a suitable partner, he explained. "We have the ideal service and logistics network for this, which gives us a clear competitive edge," Heidelberg's CEO stated. He added that the two technologies were predicted to successfully continue side by side on the future market.
Schreier also underlined that it was vital not to ignore the structural changes in the industry, but to adapt to them. He added that the global print volume of just under EUR 400 billion was an encouraging sign for the development of the market and that, when the economy picked up again, commercial printing would recover too and lead to new investments in this offset market segment. Packaging printing has enjoyed greater stability during the crisis and offers growth potential for Heidelberg. "We have systematically geared our range of products and solutions to the requirements of our customers in both market segments and ensured that they represent the state of the art. This makes us confident that both our customers and our companies are extremely well positioned for the recovery to come," concluded Schreier.
Heidelberg at IPEX 2010:
The company will be showcasing its extensive portfolio of state-of-the-art technologies for lean manufacturing and ecological printing.
Prepress/CtP
• Heidelberg is expanding the Suprasetter A52 and Suprasetter A75 models of its Suprasetter family for thermal printing plate production.
Prinect
• Heidelberg will be showcasing a range of color measuring and control system innovations that form part of its Prinect print shop workflow to improve color and quality management.
• Prinect 2010, an improved version of its Prinect print shop workflow, boasts new functions in all areas of production and will enter series production in the third quarter of 2010.
Press
• Heidelberg will be unveiling a Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor with new high-pile delivery and a new coating unit featuring the DryStar Coating dryer for short-run printing.
• Also unveiled will be unveiling the Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor for UV printing with process color capabilities.
• The CleanStar process air extraction system will be displayed for the first time on a Speedmaster XL 75 five-color press with coating unit.
• The new automatic non-stop delivery system on a Speedmaster XL 105 will be demonstrated.
• Makes it world premiere will be FoilStar, a cold foil module from Heidelberg, thgat opens up a whole host of exceptional surface finishing options for labels, packaging, and high-quality commercial jobs.
Postpress
• Launching at the show is the new Stahlfolder KH 66 combi folder with automatic cross-fold unit.
• Also unveiled will be the Stitchmaster ST 450 saddlestitcher with newly developed upright and horizontal feeders and the new Streamfeeder for automatic loading.
• The Eurobind Pro from Heidelberg will be making its world premiere at IPEX 2010. This new adhesive binder is based on the tried-and-tested Eurobind 4000, combining its predecessor's short makeready times with a maximum output of 6,000 cycles per hour.
- Companies:
- Heidelberg