Presses Remain the Key Attraction at drupa and in 2008 Printers will not be Disappointed

Maximizing production efficiency

The attention at Heidelberg will be split between its new family of large format presses on the one hand and the Anicolor inking system on the other. Both respond to the changing environment that printers find themselves having to cope with. The key attraction will be the launch of the large format Speedmaster XL145 and XL162 sheetfed presses. These are based on the successful 18,000 sheets per hour Speedmaster XL105 design and will be ready to ship from the show. The larger format enables commercial printers to lay down more pages, more labels, carton blanks or mixed products on a sheet than on a 40in (B1) press. Developments in impositioning software, computer to plate imaging and automated set up means that these presses are as easy to operate as full sheet and half sheet presses. Heidelberg has talked about offering a perfecting option on these machines and while perfecting will certainly be offered on the Speedmaster XL105, the larger format presses may be introduced as straight machines, though will full coating and uv capability as options.