Integration key for press giant

The world’s biggest offset press manufacturer says it will develop driverless presses which will double print productivity. Opening the drupa trade show with its traditional eve of event press conference CEO Dr Gerold Linzbach told the world’s media this drupa represented the ‘new birth’ of Heidelberg into a world where integration was key, and where digitisation of process would drive the industry forward. Linzbach says Heidelberg will develop ‘Smart Printing’ systems which will harness the power of digital integration to deliver new print systems for printers.

Innovation: Self printing presses

The company aims to make printing presses self managing units, where everything from production planning, to consumables ordering, to predictive maintenance are all generated from the press itself. It calls this its ‘Push to Stop’ concept, with the presses themselves taking over all aspects of the production. It says this will have a massive impact on productivity, taking it far higher, and will free up print businesses to focus on developing their business, rather than spending time managing manufacture. The ‘Push to Stop’ concept is available for the new generation Speedmaster, covering the series XL 75, CX/SX 102, XL 106 and XL 145/162, which are equipped with the Prinect Press Center XL 2, the Wallscreen XL, and AutoPlate Pro or AutoPlate XL 2 and Inpress Control 2 auto­mation components. Stephan Plenz, Board member for equipment at Heidelberg, says,“With Push to Stop, industrialized offset printing with maximum net productivity becomes possible. This operating philosophy will also be used in digital printing on the Primefire 106, making highly industrialised digital printing achievable for the first time.†Part of the new driverless push comes from the Heidelberg cloud based assistant, where everything from press performance to planning to scheduling sits online and instantly available to management. Also due to launch at the show, the Heidelberg Primefire 106, the world’s first digital inkjet sheetfed B1 press, developed in co-operation with Fujifilm, aims at packaging. Heidelberg says the Primefire 106 enables packaging printers in particular to take the first step in developing new areas of business, for example with the production of variable or personalised packaging. The digital printing system offers a number of highlights, including the highest quality of 1200 x 1200 dpi at a printing speed of up to 2,500 sheets per hour, achieving production volumes of up to 1.5 million sheets per month in future productivity modes. The seven-colour inkjet system covers up to 95 per cent of the Pantone colour space. At the same time, water-based inkjet printing meets strict environmental and recycling requirements and therefore also permits food-safe production. https://youtu.be/6JGVvlAqr2U