Heidelberg handed over the 15,000th Speedmaster SM 52 printing unit in mid-December 2001. The printing unit forms part of a four-color press supplied to Centro Formazione Professionale Grafico Artigianelli in Trento, Italy. This is a specialist school for printers which also organizes seminars on subjects relating to graphic arts. It is part of a network of schools that was goes back as far as 1821 when Italy's first graphics school was founded and is supported by the Catholic Church. The Speedmaster SM 52 will be one of the presses used for developing the technical skills of the School's budding printers. The Province of Trento is supporting the investment in the Speedmaster SM 52: "The SM 52 won the public invitation to tender thanks to its excellent price/performance ratio", explains the School's Principal, Dr. Guido Bertuzzi. The School also has a Printmaster GTO 52·?2 and a Printmaster QM 46·?2. The Speedmaster SM 52 was launched onto the market at drupa 1995. Since 1996 Heidelberg presses have also been supplied with a high-pile delivery unit, powder spray device and inking unit temperature control. They were equipped for UV printing in 1998 and innovations have been added ever since. In 1999, for example, the SM 52 was augmented by an inline coating unit and fully automatic sheet reversing unit. Today, it can accommodate up to six printing units. It is controlled by means of the user-friendly CD2000 Center. Heidelberg is planning to deliver the first presses with the new Inline Die Cutting unit in mid-2002. This cutter is located after the last printing unit and means that printing, punching, perforating and scoring can be performed in a single pass. Overcoming the challenges on the A3 market The criteria that units need to meet on the A3 market are growing all the time. These include shorter and shorter runs, ever higher quality, shorter delivery times, greater cost awareness and increasingly sophisticated customer needs. "The Speedmaster SM 52 supports A3 printers in meeting these challenges", states Christian Wiethüchter, Head of Product Management 35x50. A fact made possible by the many special features that make this unit so flexible and versatile.