Heidelberg introduced its new B2 press, the Speedmaster CX75, at an open house at its Wiesloch factory in early April and then showed it at the largest Asian exhibition this year in Beijing as 4-color press with DryStar LED curing. The press, which fits in between the highly automated XL models and the SX 74, is also described as an XL75 Lite press. In answer to a question at interpack in Dusseldorf (an event that began just before China Print), Rainer Hundsdörfer commented that the CD 74 model will continue to be the base offering in Heidelberg’s packaging press line-up. After receiving its official launch at China Print, the CX 75 is expected to ship in November after being field-tested at existing Heidelberg user Werbedruck Petzold in Germany.
For packaging with a wide variety of finishing options
With the Speedmaster CX 75, Heidelberg is closing the gap between the Speedmaster SX 74 and the Speedmaster XL 75 and rounding out its portfolio in the 50 x 70 cm format. The new press will appeal to customers in growth markets such as India with commercial printers migrating to carton printing—printers who need high flexibility but for whom a large number of automation components do not make economic sense at current volumes. The Speedmaster CX 75 will also be of interest to those print shops in industrialized countries that operate one or two shifts and are looking for an attractive price-performance ratio.
FY 2017-18 off to strong start for Indian offset printers
Heidelberg India recently announced the sale of three SX 74, 4-colour presses, a CX 102 7-color plus coater press and an XL 106 7-color plus coater that includes the company’s fixed 7-color Multicolor technology for expanded gamut printing to Temple Packaging. RMGT’s distributor in India, Provin Technos is also on course to match or exceed last year’s numbers with eight presses scheduled for installation in the first five months of the financial year itself. Vinay Kaushal also speaks about signing for one press at China Print in Beijing.
A Komori distributor in India announced the sale of eight presses at China Print in addition to the presses that are already under installation since April. The announcements in Beijing include Award Offset’s order of a GL 40 7-color plus coater press and also the sale of the first Komori cutting machine to the Indian market.
In addition, Award Offset, a leading pharma packaging converter in Western India also recently signed an order with IndoPolygraph Machinery for a KBA Rapida 105 7-color plus coater UV press for installation this year. KBA, which tends to dominate the packaging or full UV-coater 5- 6- and 7-color press market in India, already has seven such presses scheduled for installation in this financial year with a couple already having cleared customs. At the same time it has started to break into B2 market with the installation and sales of its new Pro 75 series.
