We recently spoke with Mark Levin about his role within Heidelberg and what kind of Web press equipment would be on display at the show. Based in Heidelberg's Dover, New Hampshire office, Mr. Levin is responsible for the strategic direction and management of sales and service for the company's newspaper and commercial web presses. He was promoted from vice president, Sales, Heidelberg Web Systems.

WTT: Mark, give us more detail of what you do on day-to-day basis?

Mark Levin: I am responsible for Heidelberg web press and high-volume postpress sales and service in North America (the United States and Canada). I spend almost all of my time focusing on our customers. Web press and postpress systems are large, complex and highly customized. That demands extensive interaction between the supplier and the customer on many levels. My role is to manage that interaction, making sure that we're listening to our customers, addressing their needs and doing everything we can possibly do from a technology and a service standpoint to make them more successful.


WTT: Shows such as Graph Expo give companies like Heidelberg an opportunity to bring in large pieces of printing equipment, such as web presses. Will visitors to Graph Expo be able to see any of your presses in operation?

Mark Levin: As you could imagine, due tot the short set up time, running a full web press at a show like Graph Expo would be difficult, if not impossible. Instead, we will have printing units and other components on the show floor to demonstrate some new and important capabilities. We will also hold live demos at some of our existing customer sites in the Chicago area during the show.


WTT: I guess they would make a lot of noise and cause some significant vibration in the halls at Chicago, but it’s always fun to see web presses running. Are there any must-see pieces of equipment from your division in the booth?

Mark Levin: We will have several pieces of equipment on display that we feel people should see if they are interested in web presses. On the top of the must-see list would have to be the Sunday 2000 press with Autoplate. This new automatic plate changing system allows one operator to change all the plates, or any combination of plates, in less than two minutes. The Sunday 2000 is already a proven high-performance press for high-quality commercial and short-run publication printing. Autoplate will help printers cut makeready times even further. Speaking of Autoplate, we will also show the M-600 A24 press with Autoplate for the first time in North America. Finally we will emphasize our Omnicon control system and show the Contiweb FD flying paster.


WTT: We’ve heard from other Heidelberg executives about the digital backbone that will be connecting equipment in your booth. How do the web presses fit in?

Mark Levin: Very well, we think! There will be a lot of attention on our Prinect Prepress Interface. We now have a single, easy-to-use system that can take digital data from the CTP device and use it to preset web presses, sheetfed presses and other components. We look forward to demonstrating the makeready and waste reduction advantages at the show.


WTT: How can visitors to the booth learn more about Prinect and the connections you mentioned?

Mark Levin: Printers have made it clear that they want information about digital workflows, and that is what they will get throughout the Heidelberg booth. Prinect will be a central theme at our main theater presentation and at individual Expert Spot presentations throughout the booth. Of course, the best ways for customers to get information related to their specific needs is to meet with us one-on-one at the show.


Thank you Mark.