Heidelberg Packaging Days Attracted Some 120 Participants

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—Oct. 1, 2012—The Packaging Days of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) held on Sept. 25-26, 2012, at the Print Media Center in Wiesloch-Walldorf enabled some 120 customers and industry experts from across Europe, United States and Brazil to obtain information about the company's packaging solutions. The focus was on the interaction of technology, services, and consumables for successful business models in packaging printing and folding carton gluing.

Key topics included HEI Productivity through intelligent material logistics and HEI Quality, as represented by the automated color measurement and control systems Prinect Inpress Control, Prinect Image Control and the inline inspection systems Prinect Inspection Control and Diana Inspection Control. An entire day of the event was dedicated to showcasing the benefits of the optimized production processes that can be achieved using the Prinect Packaging Workflow.

Practical customer demonstration based on complete valued-added chains
Complete HEI End value-added chains for folding carton production - from prepress and press to postpress - showed participants the benefits of integrated, sustainable production. Each of the production lines was built around a press with a complete logistics system, such as the Speedmaster XL 106 for the 70 x 100 centimeter (27.56 x 39.37 inch) format that was unveiled at drupa and the large-format Speedmaster XL 145.

Postpress equipment on show included the Dymatrix 106 Pro CSB die cutter, and the Diana X 80 and Diana X 115 folding carton gluing machines. On the Diana X 80, Heidelberg also demonstrated the new Diana Inspection Control inline inspection system, which identifies defective repeats prior to gluing and ejects them from the production process at full machine speed. In addition, the company showcased the benefits of the new Braille module, which has been developed specifically for the manufacture of pharmaceutical packaging and enables fast and reliable inline Braille embossing of packaging.

Besides the actual technology, highlighting the importance of an efficient service portfolio and the smooth interaction of equipment and consumables for reliable and stable production formed an integral part of all the demonstrations.

Entire day dedicated to demonstrating the Prinect Packaging Workflow
This was the first time in the history of the Packaging Days that Heidelberg had devoted an entire day to the topic of HEI Integration, demonstrating the many different applications of the Prinect Packaging Workflow that was extended to coincide with drupa. Job management and production were fully integrated and all the individual steps were demonstrated—from structural design to delivery of the finished cartons.

The complete integration of all print shop steps is even more important in the highly industrialized production of folding cartons than in purely commercial printing, because reducing makeready times and paper waste at the press and postpress stages significantly boosts the profitability of production for both initial and repeat orders. The Prinect Packaging Workflow offers a comprehensive range of functions for this kind of cost-efficient industrialized production.

The workflow presentation focused on saving material, reliability in production, and optimum repeatability. Participants were also treated to a detailed presentation of Prinect Package Designer, which integrates structural packaging design in Prinect to create the graphic design directly on the contour data with Adobe Illustrator while also performing a 3D check.

Accompanying workshops and opportunities to chat with experts
Participants could use the accompanying workshops that took place on both days of the event to obtain detailed information about specific Heidelberg products and services in which they had a particular interest and determine how important they were for their business model. Heidelberg experts were available for in-depth discussions on all topics.

"The great interest in our solutions for packaging printing underlines the importance of this growth segment for both our customers and our company. Although it's not that long since drupa, many participants took the opportunity offered by our customer demonstration center to obtain detailed information about how to structure their business more profitably in terms of both technology and business management," explains Stephan Plenz, member of the Management Board responsible for Heidelberg Equipment.

Source: Heidelberg.