No doubt Heidelberger Druckmaschinen is not only a leading offset press manufacturer, but Heidelberg is also a leading provider of workflow solutions as well. Comparing both, Prinect is evolving far more rapidly than printing presses in recent years. After switching to a subscription model in 2018, Prinect has seen a growth rate of more than 10% since and held that rate even in the last financial year. Approximately 3,500 customers worldwide use Prinect as a subscription across commercial and packaging print. Heidelberg plans this upward trend to continue.

As a next and important step in Prinect, Heidelberg announced Prinect Direct in mid-May. According to Heidelberg, it signifies a complete revamp of its Prinect print shop workflow, which will now be available in the cloud. The Prinect Direct apps in the cloud are connected to the Prinect Production Manager which is driving the Heidelberg equipment and is the last software remaining on-site. Third-party equipment is planned to be connected as well, starting with MasterWorks in finishing and Ricoh’s digital presses (which are sold by Heidelberg as well). More is planned to come.

The main drive of Heidelberg remains the “push-to-stop” autonomous production—which is the company’s term for automating production processes leading to a “lights-out factory” concept. The aim is that the Prinect apps eliminate most manual steps throughout a print shop’s production process, from job creation all the way through to delivery of the finished print product.