Heidelberg is a name synonymous with printing and offset printing presses since its founding in 1850 and, like many technology and engineering firms, has had to keep up with the force of constant change. Whether those changes are technological or market-driven, their long-term survival is dependent on vision, execution, and—importantly—adaptability. The quality of Heidelberg’s product was never an issue, but as the market for offset presses slowed down, they were having problems addressing the effects. They went through a restructuring in 2008/2009 and again in 2012, but they seemed to continue to be trying to do business as usual, and the bottom was falling out under them. They can’t be faulted for not seeing the looming threat of digital printing in their core markets, but their introduction of the VLF press and attempts to compete by entering digital printing through internal developments and/or partnerships never really took hold to the point where they could cover costs. In some cases, through no fault of their own, as in the case with the joint development of the Nexpress with Kodak, which was going through its own problems at the time. In essence, they seemed to have lost their way forward.

2016 was a turning point for Heidelberg. At drupa 2016, they introduced their “Simply Smart” tagline with the introduction of the Push to Stop operating philosophy based on automation, which continues to drive the development of their core press and finishing business products today. They also appointed Rainer Hundsdörfer Chairman of the Board of Management in November of 2016. I had an unique opportunity to interview Hundsdörfer as he prepares to leave his position and the company. First and foremost, he is a German engineer with a love for print, and in fact his first job was for a company that provided web guides for presses. So when he was approached by the Heidelberg management board to come on as Chairman, he couldn’t say no. After all, it was “a machinery icon.”

Once in place, he began to realize that it was “a really great company when it comes to product, technology, customer proximity, etc., but in trouble because Heidelberg was way bigger in its organization than the market could support.” It was clear that “either we grow very quickly or we have to restructure again.” At the time, there were two projects which looked promising. One was the Primefire B1 inkjet press, and the second was the business model for subscription offerings. Unfortunately, neither developed as fast as they wanted or needed. In essence, “they couldn’t give us the short-term growth Heidelberg needed to escape the cost burden, and if you don’t grow you cannot manage your costs.” In the case of the Primefire, they felt it had to be killed because it was too early for the market and you can’t feed the product development when there is not enough demand, even though it was a great product. In fact, some of the customers that purchased it don’t want to give it back. In the case of the business subscriptions program, there was interest, but it couldn’t grow as fast as it needed due to the lack of necessary capital requirements needed for funding. Now they have that resolved through a partnership with the insurance group MunichRe and the program is moving ahead successfully with the planned launch in Europe and North America.