Heidelberg

People traveling in the area of 25th and Farnam Streets recently witnessed a rare sight—two enormous printing presses that were manhandled out of a second-floor window, hoisted high above the pavement by a giant crane, then gently deposited onto a flatbed truck.

It all happened at Barnhart Press in Omaha, NE. The commercial printer was retiring the two Heidelberg presses in the normal course of business, having replaced them with newer and faster models.

It was a mammoth undertaking, as the pressroom at the 40-employee Barnhart firm is upstairs. The Omaha sales manager for Heidelberg stopped by to take some pictures.

At a recent open house at Heideberg USA's North American Print and Packaging Technology Center in Kennesaw, GA, Anthony Thirlby, managing director of ESP Colour Hub in Swindon, UK, gave a riveting account of ESP's stunning six-year transformation. The $26 million company today produces a combined 165 million impressions/yr. on its Speedmaster XL 105 (75 million) and XL 106 (90 million) presses.

The Ben Franklin Honor Society of Printing Industries of America recognizes and honors industry leaders who have made lasting contributions to advancing the printing and graphic communications industries. At the black-tie awards ceremony last week, seven industry leaders were formally inducted into the esteemed society.

The realignment of Heidelberg's postpress business was completed as planned and on schedule, positioning the company for profitability and growth next year. The EBITDA for the first half of financial year 2014/2015 is clearly positive. The half-year EBITDA, including income from its Gallus transaction, climbed to € 53 million. These figures are influenced in part by the measures to restructure the portfolio and the associated non-recurring effects.

Heidelberg USA has tapped Thomas (Tom) McTernan as its new vice president for national consumables sales. He now reports to Thomas Topp, senior vice president consumables and senior finance officer. Former Account Executive (central) Randy Wiersma has assumed the role as regional vice president, central region, and now reports to Juergen Grimm.

A new mini-web in-line has been installed on Suncraft Technologies' six-color Heidelberg Printstream 100 press, along with a 600 dpi Kodak Prosper S10 Series inkjet imager. The new equipment gives clients greater flexibility and personalization options with variable data printing for short-run and high-volume direct mail applications.

KENNESAW, GA—Heidelberg invited customers and prospects to review its comprehensive portfolio of short-run solutions at a series of three special events held this summer at its North American Print and Packaging Technology Center here. The themed open houses underscored Heidelberg’s shift to a homegrown marketing strategy focused on creating more opportunities for 1:1 engagement with qualified decision-makers.

A series of three special events this summer, hosted at Heidelberg's North American Print and Packaging Technology Center in Kennesaw, GA, demonstrated the company's comprehensive portfolio of short-run solutions. Recently, Heidelberg has shifted its marketing strategy to focus on creating more opportunities for 1:1 engagement with qualified decision-makers.

With plate changing times some 50 percent shorter than with AutoPlate, the AutoPlate Pro is easy to operate and enables staff to carry on working during plate changes. It will be available for the Speedmaster XL 75 this fall and Speedmaster XL 106 in spring 2015, but initial installations have proven a big success.

Folding carton, corrugated box and merchandising display manufacturer RockTenn has purchased the 100th Heidelberg VLF press, which will be installed at its Clinton, IA, facility. Steve Voorhees, RockTenn CEO, and Craig Gunckel, executive vice president of merchandising display and folding carton, were on hand at Heidelberg’s Hall 11 assembly center, part of the Heidelberg Wiesloch-Walldorf Factory complex, to inspect the press and participate in a special event with Heidelberg executives and employees to salute the 100th press accomplishment.