Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will be presenting digital printing solutions for the automotive sector at stand 372 at InPrint 2017 in Munich from 14 to 16 November. These solutions help providers from the sector to offer their customers personalized, attractive products – using digitally realized designs that are in ever greater demand given the megatrend of personalization. 

Using the example of a smart car, Heidelberg will be hosting live demos at InPrint showing how digitization and new printing technologies enable individual small series or individual parts to be quickly and easily realized. The items on show at the trade fair will range from custom-decorated speedometer bezels and ventilation nozzles to alloy rims. The Heidelberg Omnifire 250 4D printing system will be in operation for visitors to see.

“At InPrint 2017 we are presenting ourselves as a technology provider for personalized everyday products using the example of car parts. The enhancement of digital printing in the 4D segment for integration into industrial processes is opening up new growth markets for us. We have the expertise and technologies to design the personalized world, and support customers from a wide range of industries in establishing their digital business models,” says Dr. Ulrich Hermann, Board Member and Chief Digital Officer at Heidelberg.

Fully digitized processes

The entire process of 4D print production is digitized from the first design draft to the finished personalized trim components: trim components for the interior like ventilation nozzles, instrument bezels, and multi-media interface trims can be selected in a configurator app and designed with the person’s own motifs. The finished overall design can be immediately viewed on the tablet and in virtual reality (VR). Then the design is optimized for printing using Heidelberg’s 4D printing solutions and printed in color as well as with tactile effects on the surfaces of the real components.

Heidelberg 4D digital printing solution used in production at Ritzi Lackiertechnik

A Heidelberg Omnifire 1000 has been in use at automotive supplier Ritzi Lackiertechnik GmbH in Tübingen since the beginning of October. The company finishes high-quality components such as speedometer bezels, trim strips, switches, dashboards, and other components for various automotive manufacturers. One of the machines the company uses for this is the Omnifire 1000, which is integrated into the industrial, digitized production process.

“The car of the future is networked and increasingly tailored to the customer in every respect. “We spent a long time searching for a solution that would allow us to meet the exacting requirements of our customers for custom decoration in an efficient way,” explains Günter Ritzi. Ritzi Lackiertechnik GmbH in Tübingen offers surface finishings for a wide range of industrial products. “In Heidelberg we have found a partner that can supply us with an attractive overall package of innovative technology and matching service with the Omnifire 1000.”

www.ritzi-lackiertechnik.de

With the Heidelberg Omnifire 1000 and 250 systems, everyday objects of almost every shape and made from a wide variety of materials can be printed and decorated, for example balls, bottles, hockey sticks as well as car and plane parts or even entire planes. The systems can be integrated into practically any digitized production process. Heidelberg presented the technology for the first time at InPrint 2015 in Munich and since then has been continuously enhancing the inkjet system for industrial use.