Over the past three months, some 700 customers from all over the world have paid a visit to Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). During events at the Print Media Center in Heidelberg and Wiesloch-Walldorf, they have learned about future opportunities in the small-format sector, innovations in industrial packaging printing, and surface finishing options with Saphira consumables as well as new coating applications when printing in perfecting.

The Commercial Days focused on solutions for small and medium-sized commercial print shops. In May, approximately 270 print shop representatives explored the Heidelberg small- and medium-format portfolio. The Suprasetter A 75, Speedmaster SM 52, Speedmaster SM 52 with Anicolor, Speedmaster SM 74, Speedmaster XL 75, the Ricoh Pro C901 Arts Edition, Eurobind 600 PUR and the Stahlfolder TH 56 were demonstrated to customers - all fully integrated along the process chain thanks to the Prinect print shop workflow. In-depth information on Heidelberg Services and Saphira consumables was also high on the agenda at this three-day event.

By customers, for customers - commercial printers describe their success in the small-format sector
The presentations given by managers Christian Reichmann and Michael Meistrik from Pacem Druck proved to be especially popular. The print shop, which is based in Cologne, Germany, invested in a Speedmaster SM 52-5-P+L DryStar with coating unit and short high-pile delivery in 2010. This turned out to be an inspired move, as Christian Reichmann reported: "Had we not invested in the SM 52, Pacem Druck would not be around anymore. It is vitally important to us that we can deliver quickly, and the decision to invest in a coating unit enabled us to massively reduce production times. Using Saphira consumables means that print products can be fed directly into postpress operations with no delays. Our makeready times have also dropped by 50 percent, since the Prinect Prepress Interface enabled us to adopt color presettings from prepress. Since installing the SM 52-5-P+L, we have significantly boosted our efficiency despite rising raw material prices."

Another example of how the courage to invest can pay dividends came from Aschaffenburg-based print shop drucken123. Owner Markus Müller described how - since investing in a Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor - he has been able to compete very effectively with digital printers while also delivering best offset quality. What's more, the 90 percent saving on paper waste is just as important to this environmentally conscientious commercial printer as short delivery times, excellent quality, and cost-effective production.

During the recent Packaging Days, customers from all corners of the globe delved into innovations for industrial packaging printing. At the Packaging Print Media Center in Hall 11 of the Wiesloch-Walldorf plant - the competence center for packaging printing - the international visitors saw for themselves a fully-integrated packaging production. This end-to-end solution encompassed everything from data preparation and plate production to printing, die-cutting, and folding box glueing. The entire cross-format portfolio and the individual process steps were explained in detail. At the end of the process, Heidelberg experts analyzed the actual production data live in front of the visitors. Thus, the customers were updated on Heidelberg's solutions and applications for packaging, offering them a sound basis for decisions regarding future investments.

Trips to the Print Media Centers in Heidelberg and Wiesloch-Walldorf during the Perfecting Days gave international print shops the opportunity to fully explore the perfecting technology that Heidelberg offers. Demonstrations on the Speedmaster XL 75, SM 102, XL 105, and a coating-over-coating demo in a single pass with the Speedmaster XL 105 LPL shed light on application flexibility, automation, and productivity in perfecting printing. Particularly the double-sided coating with water-based coating in a single pass was proof for the considerably faster finishing, which is possible with this application. This was further highlighted with a freshly printed pile out of the delivery of the press going straight into the folding machine.

The emphasis at the Coating Days was on various coating applications, which were demonstrated on a Speedmaster XL 105-6+L UV at the Print Media Center in Hall 11 of the Wiesloch-Walldorf plant. Among others, water-based high-gloss coating, drip-off conventional and UV or Soft Touch were demonstrated with focus on application techniques and printing, respectively coating results achieved. Customers also got a general idea of Heidelberg's consumables business as well as hands-on tips with regard to the use of coatings. In particular, the balanced combination of consumables and machine technology opened up new perspectives to the customers with regard to application-technological results on one hand, and profitability and performance on the other hand.

Following overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers, Heidelberg has decided to continue the series of information events in fall 2011.