Offset Printing

Colorpress invests in Speedmaster CX 102 from Heidelberg with Subscription Smart contract

Friday 31. July 2020 - Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Colorpress - an online print shop based in Nürtingen, near Stuttgart - is investing in a Speedmaster CX-102-5 in conjunction with a Subscription Smart contract from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). The contract covers all service operations, Prinect Workflow components, and consumables, including Vendor Managed Inventory services from Heidelberg.

This means the SME with a 20-strong workforce will obtain equipment, service, and all consumables from a single source in the future. It is investing in the latest-generation Speedmaster CX 102 to replace a Speedmaster CD 102-5 that has clocked up over 300 million prints.
“As an online print shop with a regional focus, Colorpress works in close partnership with our customers,” says Managing Director Ralph Fetzer. “This substantial investment in a package solution combining state-of-the-art Heidelberg equipment with a Subscription Smart contract is getting our company fit for the future in a challenging market environment,” he adds.
Colorpress is expecting its overall productivity to increase sharply by some 30 percent. By concluding a Subscription Smart contract, under which payments are based on the actual output of the press, it is looking to make machine processes far more efficient, meaning it will be able to handle a large number of short and very short runs with fewer than 30 sheets more competitively.
“Concluding an output-based subscription contract when purchasing a press is the ideal way for many customers to secure their company’s future viability,” says Dr. David Schmedding, Chief Digital Officer at Heidelberg. “Especially during a period as difficult as the COVID-19 pandemic, they benefit from dealing with a single contact and also from our supportive partnership, with both parties sharing the same goal of improving the print shop’s performance,” he explains.
The Heidelberg Subscription model follows the growing pay-per-use trend in mechanical engineering with the aim of further reducing the company’s reliance on the straightforward sale of presses. Under this model, customers only pay for the number of sheets actually printed. The smart holistic system offered by Heidelberg under the top configuration level of the new digital business model includes equipment, software, all consumables required – such as printing plates, inks, coatings, washup solutions, and blankets – and a comprehensive range of services geared to availability. New add-on and variable Print Site Contracts are making the subscription portfolio an attractive option for an increasing number of print shops. If customers so wish – under Subscription Smart, for example – Heidelberg will also take care of all aspects of logistics operations for consumables (vendor-managed inventory).
A holistic system of this kind could not be managed dependably without big data applications – in predictive maintenance, for instance – and the company’s Push to Stop approach to autonomous printing.
The rollout is going according to plan and is to be expanded further. Establishing pay-per-use models in industrial offset printing is the result of the ongoing digital transformation at Heidelberg, and also the company’s software and data expertise.