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Heidelberg is bringing its Ipex theme of “Connect for Success” to Printech, and believes that its commitment to customers is the right recipe.
It may not be on the same scale as Ipex, but Heidelberg’s stand at Printech will provide customers with a comprehensive overview of recent innovations the company has made in new products as well as developments and upgrades to existing technology. “New Zealand customers will appreciate that much of what Heidelberg has achieved relates directly to their needs in the local market,” says Glenn Plummer General Manager Product Management & Marketing, Heidelberg Australia & New Zealand.
“Connect for Success” the company’s theme for both Ipex and Printech communicates two focal points for Heidelberg as Plummer explains. “The theme reflects our commitment as a company to work with our customers to assist them in finding the right tools and solutions for their business. It also encompasses our focus on integrating the printing process through our modular workflow solution, Prinect.”
“Prinect is the lynchpin to Heidelberg’s workflow solutions. This JDF/CIP4 integrated management, production and colour solution will also be showcased at Printech giving our New Zealand customers an opportunity to discover the benefits of Prinect and how they can apply it to daily activities.”
Heidelberg’s solutions span industrial, commercial and packaging print sectors with a focus on driving productivity and profitability. At Ipex the company clearly demonstrated its grasp on market needs, future directions and its commitment to research and development with highlights including the release of a revolutionary new technology, Anicolor on the Speedmaster SM 52 press, and confirmation of the CD74’s high level of productivity, consistently running at 18,000 sheets per hour.
“Value adding from one pass processes including inline coating, die cutting and colour control and other labour and time saving technologies were also demonstrated,” adds Plummer.
With Printech following hot on the heels of Ipex, we spoke to two local printers who made the trek to Birmingham to find out what they thought of Heidelberg’s Ipex offer and why they think it is important to attend trade shows, both international and regional events.
Panprint
Auckland print company, Panprint, was represented at Ipex by owner, John Thorrat and operations Manager Thomas Schmutz. Both agreed the Heidelberg stand confirmed the company is at the top of its game.
“The Heidelberg stand reinforced the company’s position in the market,” says Thorrat. “We were suitably impressed by the stand and the presentations which clearly demonstrated the company’s commitment to sheetfed.”
Thorrat says Heidelberg really showed what its equipment can do. “It was great to see how the equipment handled complex jobs, they didn’t dumb it down and take the easy road. One of the things that really stood out was the CD74, it’s a very impressive machine.”
The bindery equipment also peaked his interest. “We don’t have bindery at the moment, and we were keen to see what’s available. Heidelberg’s offer has definitely given us food for thought.”
“It’s always interesting to attend a show like Ipex as it gives you an overall view of where the industry is heading and provides an opportunity to keep in touch with the rest of the world.”
Knowing what the next moves for the industry are is a key benefit in attending these international shows as Thorrat explains. “CtP was big for our industry, but we were ready because we’d been to drupa. Attending trade shows like Ipex helps you stay ahead of the game.”
Thorrat says Printech is also a valuable exercise in learning what the major suppliers have on offer in a local context.
Soar Printing
The reason Fred Soar, Managing Director, Soar Print, attends trade shows is to “make sure we are aware of the latest trends and best practices.”
According to Soar, highlights of the Heidelberg stand at Ipex were the “XL105 which is a pretty exciting press. Also the running speed of 18,000 on the CD74 was also very impressive as was the level of automation of the folding equipment. The interconnectivity of Prinect’s workflow solutions between prepress, press and finishing, passing information through JDF from one device to another, is definitely worthwhile seeing.”
And his views on Printech? “Come along to see what the future holds.”
So what can you expect to learn at Printech from the world’s leading press supplier?
“Heidelberg’s Printech display will offer a unique “virtual” snapshot of future directions including exciting new developments such as the Anicolor, which is a revolutionary new inking system released at Ipex for the Speedmaster 52 range,” says Plummer.
The Anicolor technology which replaces the traditional ink train with a chamber doctor blade and Anilox roller delivers ink directly onto the plates to produce a saleable sheet within 20 sheets as opposed to the usual 100-150 sheets.
“At Ipex on numerous demonstrations we achieved saleable sheets at the second sheet which is phenomenal; a major advantage for the short run offset market.”
“When you can print a saleable sheet this quickly you are able to produce offset quality on a wider range of substrates in the digital market space. This technology will enable the A3 offset segment to competitively go up against the high end digital colour market. It is a very exciting development and something we will be talking about at Printech.”
The Anicolor system uses a traditional dampening system. “The machine from the inking unit down behaves like a standard press taking away some of the challenges that have faced the introduction of similar technologies using waterless printing,” says Plummer. “Anicolor is definitely revolutionary. There is a planned roll out around the world with this technology available in our region in 2007.”
Heidelberg’s
Consumables Café
The central feature of Heidelberg’s stand at Printech will be the Consumables Café a concept that worked extremely well at PacPrint05. “The Café gives customers an opportunity to enjoy our hospitality and at the same time have access to senior management and product specialists who can readily answer questions,” explains Plummer.
Printech visitors will also be able to see Prinect in action. Prinect enables the integration of business-management processes with technical workflows ensuring an end-to-end flow of data and work processes including closed-loop colour management utilisng Inpress Control a world release at Ipex.
The Prinect concept features Prinect Management Solutions, Prinect Production Solutions and Prinect Colour Solutions all of which are based on open standards like Adobe’s PDF and CIP-4’s PPF and JDF. Prinect can be incorporated into existing hardware and software components including third-party MIS, a capability that was shown at Ipex with Shuttleworth, Optimus, Tharsten and Prism as well as Heidelberg’s own Prinance.
A first for New Zealand, the Prinect Experience, which made its debut at drupa04 and at PacPrint last year, has been further refined to enable customers to move through each stage of production via a single terminal making it more user friendly. “Customers to our stand will be able to follow the production process from start to finish via an interactive screen presentation,” says Plummer.
Products experts and account managers will also be on hand to take customers through the company’s expansive offer. “We will be showing presentations of all the new innovations shown at Ipex and will be able to take customers through the entire print production process from pre-press through to finishing. The virtual style of our stand will provide an opportunity to really delve into the processes and discuss in detail the pros and cons of adopting specific technology and practices,” says Hemi Brown, Sales Manager, Heidelberg New Zealand.
After show sessions will be held in the Auckland showroom and will take the form of a small offset “shoot out” showing the difference in productivity between the GTO, Printmaster 52 and the Speedmaster 52 by running the same jobs simultaneously. The event will also demonstrate pre press and bindery solutions for small jobbing work.
“The “shoot out”, which is held after hours, provides customers with a unique opportunity to see the three presses in action in real time comparing job for job, sheet for sheet, second by second,” explains Brown.
In conclusion Plummer says, “our presentation at Printech will affectively feature the post Ipex forum content we are presenting around Australia, but with far more interactivity and the additional focus on our business services capabilitities with systemservice, business development, Print Media Academy (training) and human resources (careers@heidelberg).”
