From November 1 to 11, 2011, commercial and digital print companies and postpress specialists from around the world are taking the opportunity to get the lowdown on the postpress portfolio of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). More than 500 customers from eastern and central Europe, the United States, India, and Egypt are attending the Postpress Commercial Information Days in Leipzig to see for themselves the quality, efficiency, and profitability of the equipment on offer. This is the perfect opportunity to see live demonstrations of the entire product portfolio - from folding machines and saddlestitchers to adhesive binders. One special highlight is the premiere of the Eurobind Pro adhesive binder, which is linked inline with a digital book production line from Hunkeler AG, Switzerland. This makes it possible to switch between digital and offset print production on a single machine. The special configuration of the Stahlfolder Flexomailer mailing system will be on show for the first time. It enables double-sided printing with Kodak inkjet print heads and is equipped with a perfecting module from Popp. Innovative camera technology ensures absolute reliability. In addition to giving users the chance to meet the growing trend of tailoring mailings more closely to specific target groups, this solution also generates extra added value. "The overarching trend in postpress is increasing efficiency and productivity," says Thomas Krischke, Head of Postpress Commercial at Heidelberg. "Our comprehensive portfolio provides our customers with a number of options to significantly improve their competitive edge."

One key topic is the Prinect Postpress Manager, which allows full-service print shops to integrate postpress equipment fully into their overall workflow and thus enable them to make decisions on deadlines and costs based on real facts and figures. In total, visitors have the chance to see live demonstrations of 20 different machine configurations at the Postpress Commercial Information Days. All products on display will be available by drupa.

Customers also have the chance to gather information on PMA programs and the postpress products available in the areas of Systemservice, Saphira consumables, and business consulting. The program is rounded off with a guided plant tour.

Heidelberg partners Polar, KAMA, Hunkeler, and ATS are also exhibiting their products and solutions in Leipzig.

Sustainability is a key feature of all the solutions on display. Heidelberg defines binding environmental and sustainability targets for all its products right from the start, taking in everything from the initial idea, development, manufacture, and operation at the customer site, all the way through to the end of the life cycle.

For example, the separate servo drives of the feeders on the Stitchmaster ST 450 stop immediately if an error occurs, while other machine concepts only stop after two or three brochures, which are then lost as waste. Based on a throughput of 15 million 36-page A4 brochures, this saves around five metric tons of paper a year. The innovative makeready functions of the new Stahlfolder KH 82 combination folding machine, for instance, reduce not only the makeready time for a new job, but also the setup waste. This results in approximate savings of 2.5 metric tons of paper per year when the machine is operating at full capacity. Thanks to signature production with new imposition schemes and the innovative pneumatic twin lay device for the Stahlfolder, the same folding capacity is achieved at lower machine speeds, which cuts the noise volume at the main control panels by half.

Postpress machines impress with high productivity, efficiency, quality, reliability, and easy operation
Heidelberg Postpress offers customers precisely the answers and solutions they need to make new investments to ensure they are competitive and successful even in difficult economic times.

The trend towards ever-shorter print runs and tighter delivery deadlines demands efficient and flexible postpress operations. The aim is to enable users to produce sellable folded sheets, brochures, and books as quickly as possible.
Energy-efficient, modular drive concepts and a level of automation that is consistently geared towards maximizing customer benefits are key. For instance, the position of the various feeder types on the Stitchmaster ST 450 saddlestitcher can be switched quickly and easily to ensure perfect processing of folded sheets, regardless of where in the brochure they are located. With the Eurobind Pro adhesive binder, users can switch from EVA to PUR hotmelt at the touch of a button.

Customer-specific service and maintenance contracts result in maximum machine availability, which in turn ensures optimum adherence to deadlines for end customers.

A high level of automation coupled, above all, with outstanding ease of operation gives rise to optimum cost-effectiveness. Electronic setup aids, for instance, simplify work on the Stahlfolder folding machines. The possibility of accessing the entire machine network from every control panel of the Eurobind Pro adhesive binder simplifies the handling of even complex systems considerably.

During the installation of every machine, experts from Heidelberg provide professional training at the customer's site. Additional training services from the Print Media Academy (PMA) sites in Leipzig and Ludwigsburg help operators get the most out of the machines.

What's more, consumables from Heidelberg are perfectly matched to the machine requirements to ensure high-quality end products and enable customers to dispense with their own time-consuming material tests. Saphira glues, whose open process times are precisely matched with the machine requirements of the Eurobind adhesive binders, are just one example of this.

Postpress operations for long, medium-sized, and even very short print runs - produced in offset or digital printing
The enormous pricing pressures facing print shops in the production of classical signatures with long print runs and high-productivity presses are leading to calls for press output to be processed on just a single folding machine by one operator. Heidelberg has been able to increase the productivity of its folding machines by up to 30 percent by using new imposition schemes and oblong feeding as familiar from the press. Oblong feeding is made possible thanks to the innovative, pneumatic twin lay device used in the Stahlfolder. Oblong feeding, combined with new imposition schemes, increases productivity by 12 percent along the entire production chain. Instead of 32 pages in A5 format, this solution makes it possible to accommodate 36 pages on a single print sheet.

Integrated modules and control systems ensure an end product of the highest quality. One example is the unique glue application monitoring function on the Eurobind Pro, which ensures 100% quality assurance in the adhesive binding process. In addition, functions such as thickness and volume monitoring, print image recognition, and barcode reading and analysis provide valuable support for operators of folding machines, saddlestitchers, and adhesive binders from Heidelberg. Special, high-quality materials are used for the paper-feeding parts on all equipment from Heidelberg to prevent the vast majority of marks that impact on product quality. New imposition schemes in combination with oblong feeding on the folding machine enable far higher register accuracy for images or title bars running across two pages - even with heavier grammages. The use of parallel instead of cross folds also reduces natural creasing.

Heidelberg also offers ideal solutions for finishing very short runs, be they entirely digital, a mixture of digital and offset, or traditional offset alone. Inline finishing solutions from Ricoh, for example, extend from small offline machines to large adhesive binders that enable the economic production of both short and long print runs. The portfolio of Heidelberg is supplemented by OEM products from partners such as Duplo/FKS, Hunkeler, Kodak, and Popp.

Customers discover the potential for generating extra added value in postpress
"More and more customers are discovering the potential for generating extra added value in postpress," explains Reginald Rettig, Chairman of the Board of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Vertrieb Deutschland GmbH. Twenty saddlestitchers from the Stitchmaster series have already been sold this year in Germany and Switzerland alone. Customers include commercial print shops and finishing companies. They value the high level of automation, flexibility, and short makeready times as well as the comprehensive range of consultancy and services. Many customers use both saddlestitchers and adhesive binders from Heidelberg.

The adhesive binding sector is growing, with more than 50 Eurobind systems in operation in Germany and Switzerland. The biggest photo book producer in Europe works with the Eurobind 1300 adhesive binders at several locations.

"The enormous pricing pressure faced by our customers is placing increasingly high demands on machine manufacturers, which we meet by providing high-tech equipment, excellent services, and the fast availability of parts," says Rettig. Consultancy and investment planning are also playing a key role in developments. In Germany alone, Heidelberg has nine experienced experts on hand to help customers with all matters relating to postpress. In addition to the technology itself, the experts also focus on cost-efficiency. After an in-depth job analysis, they draw up a feasibility study to help with the customer's purchasing decisions.