Heidelberg outlines investment in digital

Heidelberg has detailed its plans for digital printing technology, including new presses and partnerships with other suppliers to leverage its capabilities in both the analog and digital markets.

Heidelberg chief executive officer Gerold Linzbach

The German press manufacturer’s digital portfolio already encompasses printing presses, consumables, software and services, with further expansion in the pipeline. Almost a third of the company's research and development resources are focused on digital.

To ensure that Heidelberg can also rapidly establish itself as a global player in the digital market, the company is primarily working to expand its collaborations. In terms of digital solutions for the printing industry, Heidelberg is widening its range of offerings with cooperation partners Ricoh and Fujifilm, to meet customer requirements with added efficiency and speed. The same applies to existing and future partnerships that will enable Heidelberg to break into new market segments. In pursuing this strategy, the company is bolstering its own expertise with that of its partners to develop an integrated system.

Late last year, Heidelberg announced a partnership with Fujifilm to develop digital printing technology, with the strategic partnership in the area of inkjet printing and aimed at strengthening existing business and establishing a platform to drive new business in future-oriented markets.

In fall this year, Heidelberg and Gallus are to present a new digital printing system for the label market that incorporates Fujifilm technology.

In parallel with this development, Heidelberg and Fujifilm have initiated a joint project to develop a new industrialized inkjet-based digital printing system for use in commercial and packaging printing.

Heidelberg chief executive officer Gerold Linzbach said: ‘Our ability to offer integrated offset and digital solutions for a range of market segments is unique in the industry. This reflects our drive to remain the partner of choice in this sector moving into the future.

‘As part of our expansion in the digital sector, we are investing in technologies such as digital inkjet printing. We are also exploring printing on three-dimensional objects and thus breaking into market segments that are entirely new to Heidelberg. Overall, we estimate that the digital sector offers us sales potential of more than 200 million EUR per year in the medium term.’     

Heidelberg is also working to position its Prinect workflow software as a tool to enable printers to run productive offset pressrooms in parallel with digital. Prinect can integrate all the management and production processes in a print shop into one standardized workflow to ensure they are managed efficiently.