The considerably reduced paper waste and lower energy consumption of the Speedmaster XL 106 installed at Vogel Druck in 2020 are playing a key role in helping the company achieve its climate targets.

• Vogel Druck reducing CO2 emissions by 41 percent within three years / aiming for net zero by end of 2022
• Considerably lower paper and energy consumption on the Speedmaster XL 106 leads to annual reduction in CO2 of 30 metric tons
• Subscription Smart agreement ensures continuous performance improvement in the pressroom

Vogel Druck und Medienservice GmbH (Vogel Druck) in Höchberg, Germany – part of the Bertelsmann Printing Group (BPG) – is aiming to cut its CO2 emissions to net zero by the end of 2022. In pursuing this aim, Vogel Druck is supporting the goal of the Bertelsmann Group to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. Vogel Druck intends to meet its net-zero target by completely avoiding CO2 emissions in certain areas, reducing them in others, and offsetting a portion by buying emissions certificates accredited by VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) and Gold Standard.

Vogel Druck has so far achieved considerable CO2 reductions through its own efforts. The company’s Managing Director, Jörg Kuchenmeister, has the figures to prove it: “Thanks to investment in state-of-the-art production technology and infrastructure, Vogel Druck was able to cut its CO2 emissions by 41 percent over the three years from 2018 to 2021. That’s the equivalent of 3,479 metric tons.” Emissions are set to be reduced by a further considerable amount in the current year by switching to 100 percent green electricity and installing new climate-control technology (an absorption refrigerator).

New Speedmaster XL 106 helping Vogel Druck hit climate targets
One of the most recent investments was the purchase of a Speedmaster XL 106-9-P+L from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). Vogel Druck started up the nine-color perfecting press with coating unit as a replacement for two older sheetfed offset presses in February 2020. According to Kuchenmeister, the new press is playing a significant role in helping the company meet its CO2 reduction targets. “Based on a similar throughput of paper, for example, we’ve been able to cut energy consumption by 57 percent on the new Speedmaster XL 106 compared to the previous presses,” he explains.

The Speedmaster XL 106 at Vogel Druck is connected to the Heidelberg Cloud. Analysis of the year as a whole shows that it takes fewer than one hundred sheets on average to set up jobs. The volume of paper waste during production runs is just 0.5 percent. Kuchenmeister estimates that this translates into a CO2 reduction of around 30 metric tons per year. Besides the automated control of makeready processes via the Speedmaster Operating System and the very rapid achievement of color management target values, these very low waste figures can also be attributed to consulting and service offerings. Heidelberg provides these to customers in the form of a Subscription Smart agreement . “Systematic maintenance work ensures our press is always in really good condition,” points out Kuchenmeister. The monthly call is one tool that he sees as particularly effective at continuously improving the machine’s performance. Each month, technicians from Heidelberg touch base with staff at Vogel Druck during this call. “Topics are addressed and resolved through team work, and this has helped us enhance the performance of the Speedmaster XL 106 from day one,” Kuchenmeister explains.

He believes the makeready workshop that Vogel Druck held with the experts from Heidelberg at the end of 2021 was particularly helpful. “Even though we were already achieving very good values, we were still able to make one or two more tweaks for the better.” The staff at Vogel Druck also value the high-performance sheetfed offset technology and regular, close contact with Heidelberg. The highly motivated team really enjoys maximizing the performance of its Speedmaster XL 106.

Subscription agreement helps Vogel Druck and Heidelberg forge ahead
Taken together, all these measures mean the Speedmaster XL 106 has considerably improved productivity compared to its two predecessor presses. Kuchenmeister feels that the Subscription Smart agreement is playing a significant role in the performance improvements and the associated reduction in CO2 emissions . As a customer, he sees this regular contact with Heidelberg as a sustained effort on the part of a supplier to continue working in partnership to optimize production technology performance, even after the new systems have been put into service. “The subscription contract means Heidelberg is still fully involved even after the press has been signed off and shares the responsibility for its availability and performance. That helps both parties forge ahead – Heidelberg as a supplier and Vogel Druck as a dependable print provider,” sums up Kuchenmeister.