April 18, 2002 -- Heidelberg won orders worth almost Euro 260 million at the year's largest print fair, IPEX, held in Birmingham, U.K., over the period April 9 – 17. "This result reaffirms our leading role as a solutions provider in the graphic arts industry", stated Bernhard Schreier, Chairman of Heidelberg's Management Board, and added "Although there were fewer visitors to IPEX than last year, the quality and the many countries represented were surprisingly high". Mr. Schreier referred to the company's performance as "an excellent start to the new fiscal year". Nevertheless, he explained, the world economy was still unlikely to experience any tangible recovery before the second half of 2002. Heidelberg has received orders from all over the world - Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Despite the difficult economic climate, Heidelberg was very successful in all segments. Its orders included several hundred printing units for 8-, 10- and 12-color long perfectors for medium and large formats, two M 600 and two Sunday 2000 web offset presses, and additionally around 60 CtP machines. Visitors were particularly interested in the ST 400 gang-stitcher which has an exceptionally high level of automation and can be integrated into the digital workflow. Digital printing was another focal point for visitors. Many customers wasted no time in signing up at IPEX for the NexPress 2100 digital color press, the Digimaster 9100 black-and-white high-performance system and direct imaging units. "Our decision to invest in digital print technology has once again been shown to be the right one", stated a pleased Holger Reichardt, Member of Heidelberg's Management Board responsible for Marketing and Sales. The Prinect Center was another highlight of the trade show, and provided visitors with demonstrations of how an integrated printshop works in reality. The presses are controlled by the production data which is combined with the business management data. "At IPEX we signed a contract every 6.6 minutes", reports George Clarke who is in charge of the U.K. market. Virtual Literature Management Ltd. (VLM) ordered its fifth NexPress unit at the very start of the fair. VLM can now offer its portfolio of services in both Birmingham and Dublin. A very substantial deal was con-cluded with Hackman South West Print (HSW Print), who bought a Speedmaster SM 102 twelve-color press with CutStar, an ST 400 gang-stitcher, a Stahlfolder and a Digimaster 9100. This is further proof that customers are investing in both conventional and digital technology in order to provide their customers with an extended range of services.