Almost 100 customers from Germany, Switzerland, France, Poland, the Netherlands, UK, Finland, and India attended the HEI ECO Information Day in October 2010 to get a comprehensive overview of the latest solutions for ecological printing. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) had sent out invitations to this event held at its headquarters in Heidelberg. Pursuing a holistic approach, Heidelberg analyzes and optimizes its own processes in development, production, and service. At the same time, the company continuously tries to ensure that its products conserve resources when in operation at customer sites. The activities focus primarily on reducing and avoiding CO2, other emissions in the production process, and process waste. CO2 is produced during the manufacture of both machines and print products, while process waste, such as ink waste and used dampening solution, and other emissions, such as VOCs (volatile carbon compounds), ammonia, ink and coating mist, dust, and noise, are produced during the printing process.

The company supplies the broadest range of products for environmentally friendly printing, taking in everything from prepress, press, and postpress (including the Prinect print shop workflow) to consumables and the corresponding services. What's more, Heidelberg is the only manufacturer in the industry that can accurately calculate the carbon footprint of a press and, at the customer's request, render it CO2-neutral.

Heidelberg aims to further expand its pioneering role in environmental protection for the printing industry and is systematically gearing its operations towards this goal. Environmental protection has been firmly established as a corporate goal of Heidelberg for almost 20 years. The Print Media Centers in Heidelberg and Wiesloch-Walldorf received FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification in 2008. And, since 2009, only FSC-certified paper has been used for all Heidelberg print products. Heidelberg recently invited companies to submit entries for the second Heidelberg ECO Printing Award in the categories "Most sustainable companies" and "Forward-looking solutions".

Reducing paper waste offers the greatest potential
Of the three targeted areas of CO2, process waste, and other emissions in the printing process, cutting paper consumption offers the greatest potential for leveraging reductions in costs and emissions. Depending on the type of paper used, paper accounts for between 60 and 90 percent of costs and emissions per print job. That is why Heidelberg is consistently focusing its attention on cutting and avoiding paper waste. Examples include the Prinect print shop workflow, which cuts startup waste significantly, and Anicolor inking unit technology, which can cut paper waste by as much as 90 percent.

Reducing energy consumption offers the second-highest potential, because it usually accounts for between five and ten percent of the carbon footprint in the printing process. Heidelberg offers the most energy-efficient solutions on the market, such as the Suprasetter A52/A75, which boasts the lowest energy consumption in its class. In addition, the integrated concept of the Heidelberg DryStar dryer and the short distance between the dryer and sheet can cut energy consumption by up to 20 percent.

Emissions in the pressroom can be cut through alcohol-reduced or alcohol-free printing. Heidelberg offers a complete package for this purpose, comprising machine components, Star peripherals such as CombiStar and FilterStar, Saphira consumables, and consultancy services. "We see ecological printing as a holistic approach to environmental protection in print shops and have systematically geared our solution portfolio toward these requirements. In doing so, our activities are focused on avoiding and reducing paper waste, energy, VOC emissions, powder, noise, and process-related waste," explains Claudia Weyandt, Vice President Product Management Peripherals. "In addition to perfectly coordinated products and their integration in the Prinect print shop workflow, this process also involves the selection of environmentally friendly Saphira consumables and the corresponding services," she adds.

Services improve the environmental performance of print shops
The fact that the comprehensive portfolio of services offered by Heidelberg significantly increases the cost-efficiency of print shop operations is now appreciated throughout the print industry. However, many users are only just picking up on the fact that services also make a big contribution to improving their environmental performance. For example, Heidelberg offers special service packages comprising various components of the Heidelberg service portfolio that are aimed at alcohol-reduced printing and lower energy consumption in print shops.

Many individual components in the Heidelberg portfolio are also helping to further improve the concept of ecological printing. Heidelberg Business Consulting, for example, delivers wide-ranging process optimizations for print shops. This service focuses on strategy and process consulting and investment planning. Key improvements in environmental performance can be achieved, above all, by optimizing the material flow in print shops, a process that usually cuts waste and reduces energy consumption.

Print shops choosing to use Prinect to optimize their processes and create an integrated workflow have been proven to reduce paper waste and therefore cut CO2 emissions.

Print shops taking out a Systemservice contract with Heidelberg can be sure that their presses, prepress systems, and postpress machines will never consume more energy than absolutely necessary and will be subject to fewer downtimes due to the elimination of machine malfunctions.

The consistent expansion and implementation of the Remote Service functions across almost the entire Heidelberg portfolio lowers the number of service call-outs significantly. This results directly in lower CO2 emissions.

Another important means of improving ecological printing is the use of tried-and-tested Saphira consumables. All Saphira products meet strict industry standards.

"There is a clear trend in the print media industry towards sustainable services that improve not only the cost-efficiency of print shops but also their environmental performance," says Marcel Kiessling, Member of the Management Board responsible for Heidelberg Services. "Many print shops are now aware that taking a holistic approach to environmental protection also gives them a key competitive edge. Heidelberg supplies the services needed to do so."

The HEI ECO Information Day was rounded off with a presentation detailing the carbon footprint for all the day's activities, including travel to and from the event, overnight accommodation, catering, and demonstrations. For the first time, the three leading providers Bundesverband Druck und Medien, ClimatePartner, and natureOffice made their climate calculators available to determine the carbon footprint. Representatives from all three were also on hand at the subsequent marketplace event for further discussions with customers. The total amount of 45 metric tons of CO2e was offset by the purchase of emission credits for a gold standard climate project for the utilization of wind energy in New Caledonia (Pacific Ocean).