Kennesaw, Ga., – Commercial printers eager to improve their quality, serve their customers better, and enlarge their profit margins will find much to appreciate in Heidelberg's extensive sheetfed portfolio.
 
Representing state-of-the-art conventional production in the Heidelberg booth (1200) at Graph Expo will be a 5-color-plus-coater Speedmaster SM 74 featuring Prinect Axis Control and the 40" Wallscreen display; and a 5-color-plus-coater Speedmaster SM 52 with Anicolor zoneless inking system offering the highest print quality and a reduction in makeready and waste. For the first time this year, however, the Speedmasters will be linked with a VUTEk GS3200 digital grand-format inkjet device and Ricoh Pro C901 Graph Arts Edition press in a live, color-managed workflow used to print materials for a simulated advertising campaign showcasing Heidelberg's expertise in Prinect integration and color management in a cross-platform environment.  
 
Prinect workflow technology will drive color management and all other integrated functions from a bank of workstations located in the center of the booth. Prinect brings "HEI Flexibility" to every phase of print manufacturing by routing jobs quickly and efficiently to production equipment for optimized throughput and higher profitability.
 
Flexibility A Key Asset
With shorter run lengths, web-to-print procurement, and on-demand-type delivery pushing the capabilities of older, nonautomated equipment to the limit, commercial printers need flexible equipment that will enable them to adapt to a changing business environment. Case in point: Heidelberg's revolutionary Anicolor short inking technology, which cuts makeready time by up to 40 percent, waste by up to 90 percent, and increases press capacity by 25 percent or more-all while producing 100 percent offset-quality work. Built on the proven Speedmaster SM 52 platform, the SM 52 Anicolor delivers consistent volumes of ink precisely across the sheet without ink keys. Used in conjunction with the Alcolor dampening system, printers can achieve a consistent ink/water balance in seconds, a design feature unique to the Speedmaster SM 52, which also uses conventional printing plates. The upshot? Printers can complete more jobs each day at lower costs, making Anicolor profitable at run lengths as short as 250 sheets.
 
With an installed base of more than 50,000 74 units, the versatile Speedmaster SM 74 is a staple of Heidelberg's sheetfed repertoire. The 5-color-plus-aqueous model being shown at Graph Expo is a beneficiary of more than a decade's worth of technological improvements, including the 2009 InterTech Technology Award-winning Prinect Press Center with Intellistart process-oriented operating platform, integrated Wallscreen information center, as well as Axis Control closed-loop color measurement and quality assurance system for makereadies as low as 25 sheets.

Available on all Heidelberg Speedmaster presses in any format size since drupa 2008, the fully integrated, high-performance Prinect Press Center combines state-of-the-art technology, smart automation and comprehensive data management to ensure efficient production and provide the long-term investment security print companies need. The half-size modular Speedmaster SM 74 itself offers a host of configurations ranging from a basic two-color to the highly automated 10-color perfector. These and other options are designed to enable commercial printers to make decisions geared to their individual business model and specific operating requirements.

Features To Suit Every Application Need
The progressive integration of new technologies, while amply represented by the Speedmaster SM 52 and SM 74, are applied upwards through Heidelberg's sheetfed portfolio including the Speedmaster SM 102, CD/CX 102 up to the Peak Performance Speedmaster XL 75,105,145 and 162. Heidelberg also offers a variety of configurations to suit printers' applications needs: everything from long perfectors for one-pass productivity to Duo configurations serving the needs of packaging and label printers that permit coatings to be applied both before and after printing.
 
For quality control and color management, Heidelberg's Prinect Inpress Control adjusts color and register on-the-fly, for an average time savings of 8-12 minutes and a paper savings of at least 150 sheets. For packaging and label printers, Heidelberg also offers Prinect Inspection Control, which measures the quality of each box, label, or pharmaceutical insert on the sheet and compares the image to the original pdf to ensure the highest quality standards are met.
 
Common to every press in Heidelberg's sheetfed portfolio, of course, are Heidelberg Systemservice and a complete line of Saphira-branded pressroom consumables-providing owners with assurance that their Heidelberg equipment will perform reliably throughout its life.
 
End-to-end integration via Prinect automation, Prinect Press Center control, and closed-loop color measurement and quality assurance are the key elements of modern computer-integrated manufacturing as realized by Heidelberg. In mounting a live, seamless display of automated print manufacturing at its most efficient, Heidelberg aims to highlight for commercial printers the path to greater efficiency and higher profitability.