(Also see David Zwang’s commentary here. Read the original release here.) 

I really wanted to find something positive in Heidelberg’s decision to drop the PrimeFire and the XXL presses and its directions moving forward. But Heidelberg is giving me a tough time (and I am probably not the only one). Today, it surfaced that Heidelberg sold their Gallus label press business to benpac Holding in Switzerland. This adds to last year’s changes in the board with CTO Stephan Plenz and Ulrich Hermann, Chief Digital Officer and the one responsible for Heidelberg’s digital transformation, leaving. In March, the exit of the PrimeFire and XXL press business was announced. Then it was made public not to exhibit at drupa 2021.

According to the latest announcement, Heidelberg is selling its narrow web and web-fed flexo business to benpac Holding AG. Since 1999, first acquiring a 30% stake in Gallus and taking full ownership in 2014, the Gallus narrow web business was an integral part of Heidelberg. So it seemed. Now benpac will acquire the manufacturing and development of the presses, while Heidelberg will continue to manage the sales and service of the Gallus portfolio in cooperation after the takeover. Heidelberg and benpac also agreed on a close cooperation for the LabelFire, the inkjet hybrid label press for which Heidelberg continues to supply the digital imaging unit and the consumables.