During the drupa 2016 trade fair (Düsseldorf, May 31 to June 10, 2016), Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will be exhibiting the digitized future of the print media industry under the motto “Simply Smart”. At its heart, this topic is about the pressing need for print shops to continuously improve their efficiency and respond to the global demands of end customers in ever faster and more flexible ways. To meet this need, print shops must determine how their business model can be digitized and involve their customers in this process. The highly flexible production of a growing number of personalized print products is, in itself, becoming a standard process. In the future, print shops will be embedded even more deeply into a digital supply chain with customers and suppliers, and will have to meet even greater expectations regarding additional services such as shipping and multimedia marketing. 

“Presented under the motto “Simply Smart”, the Heidelberg exhibits at drupa will showcase the digitized and industrially organized print shop as an essential element for successful business models in the future. Working with our partners, we want to offer futureproof products and services that help our customers to be successful,” says Harald Weimer, Member of the Management Board, responsible for Heidelberg Services. “We believe that the integrated and networked print shop represents a trailblazing step for companies in our industry that want to move their businesses forward. By supplying automated processes and services, we are helping our customers to meet the demands that competitive print media production will face in the future.” 

The “Simply Smart” theme is the company’s response to the challenges associated with Print Media Industry 4.0. Heidelberg is offering specific benefits and making it as easy as possible to work with increasingly complex processes and technologies.

“Smart print shop” shows the integrated and networked print shop

Most Heidelberg products are already suitable for integrating and automating processes in a print shop. The Prinect print and media workflow from Heidelberg forms the basis for integrated communication between systems and machinery. It focuses on the smart integration of offset and digital printing, additional automation of all production processes, integration of commercial processes, and the inclusion of print buyers in the workflow. Through Prinect, Heidelberg also gives its customers the opportunity to run offset and digital technologies in parallel, based on a user-friendly and integrated process. What’s more, the company is continuously expanding its digital printing portfolio. As part of its ongoing work in this area, Heidelberg and Fujifilm will be exhibiting a joint development at drupa in the form of a new, highly productive inkjet-based digital printing system for industrial commercial and packaging printing. 

“Prinect is the basis for integrated communication inside the print shop and between the print shop and their customers and suppliers,” says Stephan Plenz, Member of the Management Board, responsible for Heidelberg Equipment. This integration is supported, for example, by the new Prinect Portal, which makes communication between print shops and customers much easier and more transparent; by the new Prinect Web Shop, which offers print shops an easy route into online trading; and by the Prinect digital front end, which can be used to integrate digital printing systems into the overall workflow of a print shop. “That is how we are helping make the digitized and networked print shop a reality.” 

What that means is that, in the “smart print shop” of the future, the production process will be automated and cost-optimized and machines will take care of setup processes themselves, as they will be able to access production-relevant data from upstream. However, management is also integrated for monitoring business processes, providing print shops the ability to give their customers direct access to production processes. 

“Smart services” boost availability and productivity 

Service offerings and consumables – or “smart services” – from Heidelberg safeguard the smooth running of a print shop round the clock. Since print shops have open interfaces due to Prinect and the various Remote Service packages, there are specific advantages in both day-to-day print production and in terms of services.  

Using eCall, a press can automatically make contact with the service team at Heidelberg when a fault occurs. Thanks to Remote Service, service engineers can log into the customer’s systems through the open interface architecture and provide targeted support fast. Remote Monitoring, meanwhile, ensures that machinery notifies the service team of a problem before it causes a machine stoppage, so that parts can be replaced in good time during a scheduled service, for example. 

Most importantly, reliable and efficient print production also depends on tested consumables that are suitable for the relevant application. And this is where customers can choose from the fully comprehensive range of Heidelberg Saphira consumables, which include the Saphira Eco product line for environmentally friendly print production, a specific offering for LE UV printing, Saphira Low Migration products for food packaging, and consumables geared for use with Speedmaster Anicolor presses.

“Smart collaboration” stands for innovative approaches to cooperation 

New digital approaches are also being developed as part of the collaboration between Heidelberg and its customers. The first example is the use of e-commerce – among other things through the new Heidelberg Online Shop. In a further step, customers will be able to log into the Heidelberg website to obtain a detailed breakdown of how their machines are performing. This will create a new sales platform for software, services, and consumables.

Through Performance Benchmark, Heidelberg gives its customers access to a database of performance data that they can use to compare themselves anonymously against other print shops and draw important conclusions regarding their performance and efficiency. Since it has access to machine and pressroom performance data, Heidelberg can use Performance Plus to offer customers specific proposals for how to improve performance and can provide a solution package comprising hardware, software, and training that is tailored to the customer’s situation.

Collaborations combine expertise and accelerate development – Heidelberg joins with partners at drupa to exhibit pioneering solutions in Düsseldorf and Wiesloch-Walldorf 

First and foremost, Heidelberg is building on its collaborations. In terms of digital solutions for the printing industry, Heidelberg is widening its range of offerings with cooperation partners Ricoh and Fujifilm, so as to meet customer requirements with added efficiency and speed. The company is combining its expertise with that of its partners to create one integrated system. The same applies to postpress partnerships with Masterworks and Polar that are designed to tap into more market segments. 

During the drupa trade fair, Heidelberg will be offering its customers a comprehensive overview of the digitized future of the printing industry both in Hall 1 in Düsseldorf and at the Print Media Centers at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site. At its booth in Hall 1, Heidelberg and its partners will be exhibiting integrated business models for commercial and packaging printing under the motto “Simply Smart”. The focus will be on pioneering innovations for offset and digital printing, prepress, finishing, the workflow, and the associated services and consumables. 

The trade fair activities in Wiesloch-Walldorf, meanwhile, will center on the broad Heidelberg portfolio. They are aimed primarily at customers who want to find out about the latest innovations, but also have varied needs in terms of productivity, automation, and capacity requirements.