Ipex 2010 Continues Positive Trend in Print Media Industry, According to Heidelberg CEO

KENNESAW, GA—May 27, 2010—“Ipex 2010 was well attended and our customers showed great interest in our new products and services,” said a satisfied Bernhard Schreier, CEO of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg), in summing up the recently concluded trade show. More than 50,000 international visitors came to Birmingham between May 18 and 25 to find out about the numerous innovations being showcased by Heidelberg under the “HEI Performance and HEI Value” banner. “We received numerous orders for equipment and services from all over the world and in all market segments, including around 900 printing units in all formats and over 90 postpress machines. The positive mood in the industry is continuing thanks to the tangible upward trend,” Schreier added. Customers from the UK, Chinese, and Indian markets were particularly keen to invest.

The solutions offered by Heidelberg were geared to customer needs and covered market trends such as lean manufacturing, short-run color printing, green printing, and web-to-print. There were tailor-made solutions to suit each and every customer—from small family businesses to large companies and from industrialized nations to emerging markets. The presentations in the center of the Heidelberg stand put the focus on the company's Services and its Prinect workflow, which make customers even more competitive.

The Speedmaster CX 102, which was making its global debut at Ipex 2010, generated big attention. By the end of the event, 15 of these presses with a total of more than 90 printing units had been sold worldwide, thereby opening up a new market segment. The CX 102 is printing with a production speed of 16,500 sheets per hour and lies between the Speedmaster SM 102 / CD 102 and the Speedmaster XL 105. Its high productivity and great flexibility make the CX 102 suitable for both commercial and packaging printers. The Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor with new coating unit and short delivery also sold well. This compact press enables customers to apply a wide variety of surface finishes with extremely short make-ready times. A Belgian customer invested for example in a Speedmaster XL 75 with Prinect Inpress Control, Autoplate XL and the new CleanStar. This combination ensures environmentally friendly print production through a dramatic reduction in waste and dust levels in the pressroom. One UK customer ordered not one but three Speedmaster XL 105 presses with a total of 32 printing units – all with Prinect Inpress Control, Autoplate XL, and CutStar—for a highly industrialized production facility. The final item in this order was a KH 82 folding machine. A Chinese print shop ordered three Speedmaster CD 102 presses and one Speedmaster SM 74, representing a total of 19 printing units. Finally, the production operations of a Russian customer will soon be boosted by a Eurobind 1300 adhesive binder. All the prepress, press, and postpress machines displayed at the show were sold to customers, too.

The service and workflow presentations also proved to be a big draw. Small and medium-sized print shops in particular were impressed by the new Prinect S workflow, which provides a fast, reliable, entry-level solution to lean print production. Heidelberg also announced new partnerships with local MIS and Web-to-Print suppliers. Last but not least, there was great interest in the company's Saphira consumables, which produce optimum results on Heidelberg equipment. “We were able to provide our customers with a credible and touchable demonstration of our state-of-the-art technologies and comprehensive range of services to boost competitiveness,” Schreier confirmed. “We will also introduce a digital printing solution and will then be able to offer the technology with the best price-performance ratio for the particular business model. This is a logical step for our customers because it is understood that offset and digital printing complement each other,” he added.

According to George Clarke, Managing Director of Heidelberg UK and this year's IPEX President, Ipex 2010 was a “recovery show” and by far the most important IPEX ever for the industry. “Visitor numbers were just as high as at the last IPEX four years ago and many decision-makers from around the globe attended the event. We have taken orders for 140 printing units in all formats for the UK alone,” says a confident Clarke.

The HEI Productivity and HEI Eco tours also proved extremely popular. Consultancy services and measures to ensure green production are exactly what print shops are looking for. Heidelberg demonstrated its consistent approach to environmental protection by carbon neutralizing its entire trade show presentation.