Cylinder number 1,000,000 will be installed in a Speedmaster SM 52 sheetfed offset press that is soon to be delivered to a customer in Spain.
The cylinders have been counted since 1985, when the foundry and mechanical processing plant moved from a factory in Geislingen to its current site. During this time, the production volume of cylinders has more than doubled to around 70,000 units per year.
"The one millionth cylinder from Amstetten marks a milestone in the history of the site and underlines the company’s ability to produce high-tech components of a consistently high quality," said Dr. Jürgen Rautert, Director for Engineering and Manufacturing at Heidelberg. "We have been able to increase the capacity and productivity of mechanical engineering in Amstetten continually through process improvements and investment in new technologies."
The Amstetten site employs some 1,300 people, of whom around 300 work in cylinder processing. The site has continually been extended and technologically upgraded in the last two decades. In addition to the initial investment volume of around Euro250m Euro, Heidelberg subsequently invested upwards of another Euro200m in its Amstetten production facilities. Amstetten and Brandenburg are integral parts of Heidelberg’s manufacturing network, which is centered around the largest and most state-of-the-art printing press factory in the world in Wiesloch-Walldorf.
The Amstetten site houses the foundry with a smelting shop, heavy and light casting areas, and a mechanical production facility for side frame and cylinder machining. Amstetten is the competence center for manufacturing castings, press side frames, and press cylinders. As well as producing castings for Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, the site also produces parts for external customers such as machine, automobile, and equipment manufacturers.
The majority of parts produced in Amstetten are transported by rail from Amstetten to Wiesloch-Walldorf, where all Heidelberg’s sheetfed offset presses are assembled. Every day, an average of four wagons with a total of around 220 tons of material leave Amstetten and are ready for unloading in Wiesloch-Walldorf around two and a half hours later.
