When print jobs are being costed, created, printed, die cut, and glued in the Print Media Center (PMC), guests visiting the center are always "right in the thick of the action". Since Hall 11 of the Wiesloch-Walldorf site of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) started hosting customer demonstrations in November 2008, around 600 guests from all corners of the globe have already had the chance to experience Heidelberg solutions for packaging and label printing live. With an area of over 4,000 square meters, the PMC is the largest competence center of its kind in the world. It presents a production environment with three complete production lines including integrated workflow, and each demonstration can be tailored to suit the specific needs and interests of the guests.

"We are well aware of the pressure the packaging industry is under. In a globally competitive environment, production has to increase at a rate of 3 to 5 percent annually," explains Dr. Jürgen Rautert, Management Board Member responsible for Products and Markets at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG: "We maintain close contacts with companies of all sizes in the packaging sector and develop our portfolio on an ongoing basis in line with the requirements we work out together." The strategy pursued by Heidelberg is clear-cut - solutions for the much less cyclical packaging market are to account for 25 percent of the company's total sales in the future.

Success factors for packaging printing
What benefits does integrated packaging production offer customers? How can practical demonstrations in the PMC help to convince prospective customers that solutions from Heidelberg are the right choice for their future investments?