Offset Printing
China Print 2013: Chinese print shops trust in Heidelberg
Monday 29. April 2013 - Efficiency, quality, and ecology are also the cornerstones of a powerful printing industry in China
China remains the most important single market for Heidelberg
Heidelberg looks to use its products, services, and local presence to continue to play an important role
China Print has become the biggest show in Asia
China Print – from May 14 to 18 in Beijing – is this year’s biggest industry event for the print media industry. Customers predominantly from China but also from other countries in Asia will use this week to find out about the latest industry trends. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will be presenting its products and services, including a large number of innovations, on the growing Asian market, in Hall 1 under the banner Discover HEI. Overall, the print volume for the Chinese market is expected to continue to rise significantly in the years ahead. Therefore it will be growing demand here for efficient machinery to improve the productivity of print products, particularly in the commercial printing segment. One such example is the Speedmaster SX 102 press, which is being newly launched on the Asian market. But the integration of all systems in a single workflow to optimize work processes is also picking up speed in China. The new modules Prinect Web-to-Print and Gang Assistant, for example, enable online printing via the Internet using mixed (gang) forms. Growth in the packaging sector is being driven strongly by local consumption. The increasing popularity of international brands in the country is leading to higher quality standards. For this reason, print shops are increasingly turning to coatings and special effects to make their print products stand out from the competition. Environmentally friendly manufacture is becoming increasingly important in China, too.
“The rapid growth in print volume is going hand in hand with greater demand for environ-mentally friendly print production in China,” says Stephan Plenz, member of the Heidelberg Management Board responsible for Equipment. “We are therefore using China Print as a platform to showcase suitable products and services and to demonstrate how ecological production can also be cost-effective.”
China remains the most important single market for Heidelberg
Heidelberg generates around 16 percent of its total sales in China, thus making it the biggest single market for the company. And market growth is expected to continue in the future. Heidelberg has structured its market organization in China accordingly. With a workforce of over 1,000 employees, it boasts the most extensive organization of any international manufacturer. Its workforce includes over 600 sales and service staff and around 450 employees working in production. The company has been successfully supplying presses and folding machines from Chinese manufacturing facilities in Qingpu near Shanghai since 2005. In future, the share of products made here for the Chinese market is set to rise even further.
“China remains the most important single market for Heidelberg. That’s why China Print is the only multi-regional trade fair we are exhibiting at this year,” says Marcel Kiessling, member of the Heidelberg Management Board responsible for Sales and Services. “The Chinese printing industry has high standards so we will be showcasing products and services that meet these requirements and are relevant for the local market. We are confident that we’ll continue to profit from the potential offered by this region in the future.”
Heidelberg looks to use its products, services, and local presence to continue to play an important role
The Heidelberg trade show stand is dedicated to aspects of particular interest to customers in China and other countries in Asia – high productivity through lean production processes (HEI Productivity), coating and special effects in packaging printing (HEI Emotions and HEI End), web-to-print (HEI Integration), and green printing (HEI Eco). Visitors will therefore be given an insight into a complete print shop workflow for packaging printing. Heidelberg will also be demonstrating the entire production process for commercial printing with a particular focus on lean production and integration of web-to-print. Products and services for green printing will be covered in all segments.
Premiere of the Speedmaster SX platform on the Chinese market
The new SX press platform is to make its debut on the Chinese market in the form of the Speedmaster SX 102 eight-color perfecting press. This platform has been optimized for the commercial print segment and is aimed primarily at print shops that are expanding and looking to increase their productivity further still. The new LE UV dryer technology in the Speedmaster SX 102 is also making its debut in China. It enables sheets to undergo postpress operations as soon as they have been printed without waiting for them to dry, which significantly reduces overall job throughput times.
Heidelberg will be demonstrating the efficient production of folded cartons on a Speedmaster CX 102 six-color press with coating unit. Due to its high productivity, quality, energy-efficiency, and flexibility, this machine is in particularly strong demand among packaging printers on the Chinese market.
Local production in Qingpu continues to rise
The standard Speedmaster SM 52 and SM 74 four-color presses made at the Chinese production facility in Qingpu will also be on display in Beijing. In addition, visitors will be able to see the Speedmaster CD 102 five-color press, which was added to the production program of Qingpu in spring last year. Heidelberg is the only European press manufacturer to have its own factory in China. Since it opened in 2005, the factory has produced over 900 presses of various formats and more than 770 Stahlfolder KH 66/78 folding machines for sale in China and other countries.
Systematic implementation of green print production
All presses on display at the trade show benefit from carbon offsetting and use a minimum of alcohol if any. The machines thus enable environmentally friendly operation, while the elimination of alcohol ensures fewer emissions that are harmful to health in the pressroom. With almost all sheetfed offset presses, it is possible to determine power consumption per 1,000 sheets, thus making it easier to identify measures for further reducing electricity consumption in the future. Thanks to their high energy efficiency and sparing use of resources, Speedmaster presses deliver eco-friendly production.
Products for efficient postpress operations
The Stahlfolder BH 82 will also be on show for the first time in China. This combination folding machine makes it possible, above all, to meet the requirements of the Chinese market for higher quality postpress operations and increased automation.
The Easygluer 100 folding carton gluing machine is also making its debut in China. This machine is ideal for print shops looking to move into the professional production of folding cartons, particularly those producing a broad range of high-quality carton types.
Integration: New business models with web-to-print
Visitors interested in integration and workflows will be able to discover more at six bookable workstations in the Prinect Center – in the Services Area – covering everything from the integration and packaging workflow to the color and gang job workflow for creating and processing mixed forms.
For example, several workstations and print applications will be used to demonstrate which business models are suitable for web-to-print. Depending on customer requirements, the new Prinect Web-to-Print Manager gives users the opportunity to operate one or more online shops with typical functions such as order processing with approval process, shopping cart, user administration, dispatch, and payment.
The Prinect Pressroom Manager will demonstrate how very short runs can be produced cost-effectively thanks to extremely short makeready times and end-to-end color management. It benefits from a new Gang Assistant module for optimum distribution of several jobs on a single sheet.
Details
Complete service portfolio including service agreements and Saphira consumables boosts the competitiveness of print shops
In response to the demands of the Asian market for seamless machine operation, Heidelberg will be presenting its portfolio for services and consumables. This takes the form of made-to-measure service agreements for the various print shop business models. Heidelberg has further developed its remote service concept and now also offers the Remote Monitoring function. With this function, the status of the machine is monitored continuously during operation so that any faults or problems can be identified at an early stage. This makes it easier for users to plan their production process. They also benefit from reduced downtimes and easier troubleshooting.
Saphira consumables from Heidelberg combined with the service portfolio enable Chinese print shops to get the most out of their equipment while also protecting the environment. Customers can be supplied with spare parts quickly via the local Heidelberg logistics center in Hong Kong. The service offering is rounded off by comprehensive training programs at the local training center in Shenzhen.
“China Print is a must for all Chinese print shops this year to make sure they are up to speed with the latest developments. The demand in China for automation with fast and lean production is considerable. But demand for more complex coating and special effects, more training, and technical support also continues to rise,” says Chua Lian Seng, Chief Executive Officer of Heidelberg China. “Visitors to the Heidelberg stand are sure to find the optimum solution for their needs.”