Versafire generation EV/EP launched in Asia

Heidelberg smart print shop concept successfully established

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Heidelberg
The new Versafire generation EV/EP made its debut on the Chinese market on Commercial Day

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG presented sustainable solutions to make commercial print shops more successful and to guide them on their way to the smart print shop at Commercial Day at the Print Media Center Shanghai, China. The fully automated process chain with a push to stop philosophy was demonstrated in networked live presentations. This optimized, intelligent production process stands for higher production reliability and thus for more productivity and cost-effectiveness.

The Smart Print Shop is based on the Prinect work-flow, which completely networks and automates processes from prepress, digital and offset presses through to postpress. This reduces contact points in the production process and sustainably increases process efficiency.

The visitors were impressed with the integrated and touch-point reduced operation of the Speedmaster CS 92-5 LE UV in combination with immediate processing with a Polar Cutting System 300 to the dry sheets in the delivery. Teamwork was presented between the newly launched Versafire EV and the Speedmaster SX 74-4. The high automated Speedmaster SX 74 is built – like all the other sheetfed machines on show – in the Heidelberg plant Qingpu nearby Shanghai and was first shown to the Asian market with the new feature AutoPlate Pro. The integration and pre-setting five jobs were printed in less than 15 minutes and immediately finished with a Stahlfolder machine. Thus, Push to Stop results in a production, which is easy, secure, efficient and profitable. At the end of the demonstrations, the overall equipment effectiveness was calculated and it was demonstrated how an increase in OEE can make production more efficient and job runs shorter. A Speedmaster CD 102-7+L UV presented a 7-color multicolor job, demonstrating the wide range of spot colors achievable, which covers the needs of more and more embellishment.

A key component of Heidelberg’s Lifecycle Solution portfolio for customers is the Saphira consumables, which aim to maximize the OEE utilization of their presses through maximum quality, productivity and production reliability.

The new Versafire generation EV/EP made its debut in the Chinese market on Commercial Day. The Versafire EV digital printing system provides customers with a high degree of flexibility and creative possibilities, enabling them to further expand their digital business model through diversification and optimization. With the new invisible red special toner, there are now a total of five spot colors for the Versafire EV. Just like white, varnish, neon yellow and neon pink, invisible red provides additional embellishment options. It is now also possible to print first white and then the process colors CMYK.

The Versafire EP is a high-performance digital printing system that scores with constant stability and high productivity. Thanks to the new inline calibration, consistent color stability is achieved from the first sheet to the last. New formats offer extended application possibilities.

The Print Media Center Shanghai serves as a central showroom for China, other Asian Pacific markets and neighboring regions such as northeast Russia. Here, service solutions are presented, information events are held, and the intensive tests and analyses of equipment, consumables and workflow solutions are carried out. Customer operators are also trained here. The Print Media Center Shanghai has fully integrated workflows for commercial and packaging printers.

The Qingpu plant is Heidelberg’s production site in Asia and is located nearby Shanghai. It assembles Speedmaster presses in 50 x 70 and 70 x 100 format, from four to seven-color models, mainly for the Chinese market and the Asian Pacific markets. More than 380 employees work for production in Qingpu and around 140 for sales and service for Heidelberg East China.

“This is not my first time to visit the Print Media Center in Qingpu and Qingpu workshops. But I like the whole arrangement here, especially the new look of the PMC, the real production environment as a Smart Print Shop, as well as the unique live demonstrations. I’m really glad to join this kind of event which can broaden our horizons and help us generate our business,” stated one of the customers after his visit to the Heidelberg Commercial Day.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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