At Print, Heidelberg Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will be demonstrating how media service providers and printers can integrate their processes. At North America's most important printing industry trade fair, which is being held from September 6 through 13, 2001 in Chicago, Heidelberg will also be kicking off sales of the NexPress 2100 digital color press. The company will be showcasing a total of seven solutions for different market segments, and is the largest individual exhibitor at the fair. Because of Heidelberg's comprehensive offering, customers from the prepress, digital printing, quick print, commercial printing and finishing sectors, for example, will easily find the best solution for their needs. "We are looking to cover the needs of the entire graphic arts industry", explains Holger Reichardt, Director of Marketing and Sales at Heidelberg. "One key area of focus is digital printing, where we are now launching sales of the NexPress 2100. As the only manufacturer at Print, we will be demonstrating our software modules in the form of Prinect and (for the first time in the US) Prinance. These software modules can improve technical and commercial workflows in the print process and enhance their efficiency." Connecting the world of Print At the heart of the trade fair stand is the integration center for industrial print, where all threads of the various processes are brought together using Prinect. Prinect is the umbrella term for all Heidelberg's digital workflow components. These are based on open standards, which enable end-to-end workflows and ideal print and media houses. Prepress, press and postpress are networked with management data using standard interfaces. Print will also witness the premiere of the Prinance Management Information System (MIS). Prinance is a professional costing and order processing software for the printing industry. The transparency of business management data over the entire print job is ensured by virtue of the fact that the order data accompanies the job from start to finish - from the initial offer to post-costing and invoicing. This means that the user can see at a glance whether the print job is profitable, and at the same time improve the flow of orders. At Print, Heidelberg will also be presenting the Prosetter family - a new generation of CtP recorders using violet laser technology. The 52, 74 and 102 plate formats are ideal for Heidelberg presses. The CtP units are internal drum imagesetters featuring an integrated punch that require only a small footprint. The Prosetter is also supported by the new MetaDimension 2.1 version. Heidelberg's recently launched MetaDimension PDF workflow module offers printers and agencies a low-cost gateway into the PDF-based workflow. Open interfaces also facilitate integration into existing workflow solutions. Digital and networked Heidelberg is well equipped to live up to its commitment to becoming the largest supplier of professional digital print solutions. Visitors will experience live demonstrations on three NexPress machines and can see for themselves their amazing versatility. Variable data will be printed on different grades of paper and in different formats, up to a maximum of A3. Print on Demand in the black/white sector will be demonstrated by the Digimaster 9110. At 110 A4 sheets per minute, this system is clearly a high-performance press. More than 2,000 presses have already been installed on the market. The Direct Imaging presses Quickmaster DI 46-4 and Speedmaster 74 DI can also produce short run jobs in color. The method of printing known as hybrid printing combines and connects the worlds of print - a color jacket can be printed on the DI machine and then formed into a booklet after printing on the Digimaster. Print Media Academy established as a global knowledge network Since April 2000, Heidelberg's Print Media Academy has been offering a center for communication, training and expertise for the graphic arts industry. Visitors to Print can take part in taster courses that will be led by eminent experts. The Print Media Academy in America offers product and management training courses, along with the MBA Print Manager course.