Heidelberg

It's a familiar story: an organization needs the space occupied by its in-plant, so the in-plant is sent packing. Most of the time no studies are done on whether this is a cost-effective plan; an administrator just makes the call, leaving the in-plant's customers to deal with the aftermath as best they can.

Chris Hottle loves the clamor of heavy iron rattling the shop at Winchester Printers, a commercial business located in the town of Winchester, tucked virtually into the northernmost point of Virginia. Touching down in about a month will be a refurbished (2000-era) four-color, 40˝ Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 102 sheetfed press.

Heidelberg's CAx Quality Manager software has been implemented by Daimler AG at all of its development sites to check the quality of product data in the CAD environment (CAx data). "It is a milestone in our strategy of using innovative products to break into customer segments outside the print media industry," noted says Stephan Plenz, member of the management board responsible for Heidelberg equipment.

The new VUTEk GS3250 LX printer from Heidelberg, will support Suttle-Straus Inc.'s production of point-of-purchase (POP) and display graphics for multi-location customers that Suttle-Straus already provides with conventional printing and fulfillment. The new press will also help bolster the company's R&D side of the business.

KP’s selection of a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 supports the company’s bedrock value proposition: to provide its clients with the means to drive revenue by working smarter and more cost-effectively while meeting the highest-quality standards.

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is on pace to achieve its operating targets for the current financial year. "The financial year is going according to plan. The third quarter reflects the progress we had expected in terms of earnings."

What is striking about the round of installations this year over last, we are hearing about far fewer installation problems and challenges with substrates. We are hearing more about the costs and need to expand post-processing capabilities rather than installation or performance of the presses themselves. Business cases are still strong but, unlike the earliest adopters, those needs were not as acute, so they had the luxury of hanging back and biding their time until that time was right.

Here's a look at some of the latest computer-to-plate technology available to in-plants from companies like Fujifilm, Glunz & Jensen, Heidelberg, Kodak, Presstek, Xanté and more.

Commercial printer equipment installations and other news from Printing Impressions’ February 2013 edition, featuring Meredith-Webb Printing and Conquest Bindery.

Jason Oliver has been appointed head of "Digital Printing" at Heidelberg, replacing Dr. Christian Compera, who left the company at the end of last year. Oliver, previously EFI's senior director of Jetrion sales, will be responsible for all of Heidelberg's Linoprint systems. Heidelberg has also named Stefan Hasenzahl to oversee the newly founded "Very Large Format and Postpress Packaging" business area. This unit pools all the company's activities associated with the large-format Speedmaster XL 145 and XL 162 presses and postpress systems for the packaging printing sector.