At this year's IPEX trade show in Birmingham, United Kingdom, from May 18 to 25, 2010, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will be showcasing the latest developments in its product and solution portfolio. The leading international solution provider for sheetfed offset printing is focusing its trade show presence on its extensive portfolio of state-of-the-art technologies and services under the slogans HEI Performance and HEI Value.

"We are confident that the IPEX trade show will further reinforce the noticeable upwards trend in the industry," said Bernhard Schreier, Heidelberg Chief Executive Officer. "The show could mark a positive turning point for the industry in 2010."

Providing customers with the best support for different market requirements
As part of its trade show presence, Heidelberg will draw on the economic developments of the recent past and explore the structural changes in the industry in order to show customers specific alternative methods to boost their competitiveness. "The fact is that the global annual print volume totaling nearly EUR 400 billion has seen stable development over the past ten years with some slight fluctuations. However, the picture has differed from region to region," explained Bernhard Schreier. "In the industrial nations, advertising printing will not return to pre-crisis levels, while packaging printing, on the other hand, will grow slightly. In the emerging countries, however, strong growth is evident in both advertising and packaging printing."

Taking this market development into consideration, Heidelberg will be showcasing solutions at IPEX that demonstrate to companies in the developed economies how to adjust to the changes in the industry by improving productivity and optimizing processes overall, e.g. through high-productivity machines or process integration using software, in order to secure market success. For prepress, press, and postpress companies in emerging countries, on the other hand, the focus is on productive standard equipment to satisfy the growing demand for print products on their home markets.

"We have systematically geared our range of products and solutions to the requirements of our customers in the advertising printing and packaging printing segments and ensured that they represent the state-of-the-art. We therefore confidently believe that both we and our customers are well placed for the recovery," said Schreier.

New products help to master the challenges of the future
With numerous prepress, press, and postpress innovations, including integration of all process steps, Heidelberg can offer users the leading solution portfolio in the industry, and is committed to doing so in the future, too. IPEX 2010 will mark the world premiere of the Speedmaster CX 102, a new press for industrial offset printing capable of reaching production speeds of 16,500 sheets per hour. As well as high productivity, the Speedmaster CX 102 is impressively versatile and is aimed at both commercial and packaging printers.

The new press is positioned between the Speedmaster SM 102 / CD 102 and the Speedmaster XL 105. This press puts the finishing touch to the Heidelberg 70 x 100 cm (27.56 x 39.37") format and offers the perfect solution for every press speed and level of productivity.

A further IPEX innovation from Heidelberg is Prinect S - a workflow solution for small and medium-sized print shops that provides a fast and reliable gateway to lean print production. Users benefit from all the basic print shop workflow functions required to combine prepress and pressroom management in a single system.

Trade show presence focuses on current market trends
At the trade show, the company will run practical demonstrations to highlight how media service providers, print shops, and postpress specialists can act on current market trends such as Lean Manufacturing, Ecological Printing or Web-to-Print and successfully adapt their portfolios accordingly. Heidelberg will demonstrate at IPEX how to optimize business and production processes across the entire value added chain of sheetfed offset printing, while also minimizing their environmental impact.

The numerous practical demonstrations will enable visitors to find out how they can achieve economic success with short-run high-end print applications, stand out from the crowd with creative print applications, and make the Internet an integral part of their business strategy. Heidelberg is proving that environmentally friendly production has long ceased to be just an empty buzzword, not only with special training measures at its own production sites, but also by making its whole trade show presence in Birmingham climate-neutral. This measure covers the whole carbon footprint, including the assembly and dismantling phases, the trade show personnel's trip to the site, and the paper used in the practical demonstrations.

Boosting performance with Heidelberg's service portfolio
In order to be successful nowadays, print shops need to do more than just use state-of-the-art technology. Services from suppliers are playing an ever greater role in ensuring that equipment is available round the clock and in helping users unlock the full potential of a machine or integrated solution.

To give customers faster access to these benefits as and when they require them, Heidelberg has combined its entire service portfolio in a dedicated division. The portfolio covers a print shop's entire value added chain and the full life cycle of machinery - from the initial investment to resale.

This includes comprehensive analysis and consulting services, e.g. for process enhancement and system integration, along with training measures for employees and concrete support for certification to ISO or the latest environmental standards. In Hall 8 at IPEX, visitors can obtain practical information about the full range of remote diagnosis and inspection functions, supply of Original Heidelberg spare parts, the range of Saphira consumables, and the service agreements offered as part of Heidelberg Systemservice.

IPEX reinforces upwards trend in the industry
The first upward trends are clearly apparent in various regions. "Companies that invest now in new technologies, new areas of business or processes within their business, will be well placed for the future," says Bernhard Schreier. "Customers are accustomed to us boosting their competitiveness through the latest technologies and a comprehensive service portfolio," he states, adding: "And at this year's IPEX, they won't be disappointed."