Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) today celebrated the official start of series production at the new hand-molding plant at its Amstetten foundry. The new 3,000 square meter building adjoins the existing foundry. It had become necessary to enable Heidelberg to produce printing unit side panels and impression cylinders for its large-format presses with a sheet width of up to 162 cm (63.78 in) in sufficient quantities while still adhering to the same high Heidelberg quality standards. Around 20 employees will work at the new production facility, manufacturing hand-molded components with unit weights of up to eight metric tons. This project represents an investment in the order of EUR 4 million.

"Our foundry in Amstetten is one of the most cutting-edge facilities of its kind in Europe. High-end product innovations from Heidelberg have always been associated with investments in the site and this has safeguarded its competitiveness. The construction of the new hand-molding plant is a further milestone for Amstetten's future viability," said site manager Thorsten Kirchmayer at the official opening.

The new hand-molding plant is designed so that external companies from sectors such as mechanical, automotive, and wind engineering can also benefit from the expertise Heidelberg offers in the manufacture of high-quality castings.

"As part of our strategic realignment, Heidelberg has set itself the medium-term target of generating annual sales of EUR 100 million from the new System Manufacturing section by pooling our external contract manufacturing portfolio. With its new hand-molding plant, the Amstetten foundry will play a key part in this," explained Stephan Plenz, member of the Heidelberg Management Board, who is also responsible for System Manufacturing.

Around 40 companies, primarily from growth sectors, already use Heidelberg as a technology supplier. Customers particularly appreciate its expertise in electronic drive control and the manufacture of high-precision castings.