Offset Printing
Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 makes a significant contribution to CO2 reduction at Vogel Druck
Monday 11. April 2022 - Vogel Druck und Medienservice GmbH in Höchberg, a Bertelsmann Printing Group (BPG) company, aims to have reduced its CO2 emissions to net zero by the end of 2022. In doing so, Vogel Druck is supporting the Bertelsmann Groups goal of being climate neutral by 2030.
The net zero target is to be achieved by Vogel Druck avoiding CO2 emissions completely in certain areas, reducing them in others and offsetting part of them by purchasing certificates according to VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) and Gold Standard.
The CO2 reductions Vogel Druck has achieved so far through its own efforts are considerable. Managing Director Jörg Kuchenmeister backs it up with figures: “Thanks to investments in state-of-the-art production technology and infrastructure, Vogel Druck has reduced CO2 emissions by 41 per cent within three years -2018 to 2021-. This corresponds to an amount of 3479 tonnes.” In the current year, the switch to 100 per cent green electrical energy and the installation of new air-conditioning technology (absorption chiller) are expected to further reduce emissions to a significant degree.
New Speedmaster XL 106 supports achievement of climate targets
Among the recent investments is a Speedmaster XL 106-9-P+L from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). The company commissioned the nine-colour press with perfecting and coating unit in February 2020 in place of two older sheetfed offset presses. According to Jörg Kuchenmeister, the new press will make a significant contribution to achieving the company’s CO2 reduction targets. “For the throughput of a comparable volume of paper, we were able to reduce energy consumption by 57 per cent on the new Speedmaster XL 106 compared to the previous presses, for example,” he notes.
Vogel Druck’s Speedmaster XL 106 is connected to the Heidelberg Cloud. As the evaluations show, over the course of the year jobs are set up with less than a hundred sheets on average. In the production run the waste value is only 0.5 per cent. Jörg Kuchenmeister estimates the resulting CO2 reduction at around 30 tonnes a year. Apart from the automatic control of the makeready processes via the Speedmaster Operating System and the very fast achievement of the ink feed target values, the very low waste values are due to the advice and service provided. Heidelberg provides these services to the customer under a Subscription Smart agreement. “Thanks to systematic maintenance, our press is always in very good condition,” says Jörg Kuchenmeister. He sees a strong instrument for continuously improving the performance of the press in the so-called Monthly Call. This is a monthly meeting between Vogel Druck staff and Heidelberg technicians. “Issues are tackled and solved together, which is how we have improved performance on the Speedmaster XL 106 from day one,” says Kuchenmeister.
He describes a makeready workshop that Vogel Druck held with Heidelberg experts at the end of 2021 as particularly helpful. “Even with the very good values we had already achieved, there was still one or two adjusting screws we could turn positively.” High-performance sheetfed offset technology and regular close contact with Heidelberg are also valued by Vogel Druck staff. The highly motivated team takes great pleasure in getting maximum performance out of the Speedmaster XL 106.
Subscription agreement takes Vogel Druck and Heidelberg a step further
All measures in their entirety lead to a noticeable increase in productivity on the Speedmaster XL 106 compared to the two predecessor machines. For Jörg Kuchenmeister, the Subscription Smart agreement plays a significant role in terms of the performance achieved and the associated reduction in CO2 emissions . As a customer, he sees the regular exchange with Heidelberg as a sustainable approach by a supplier to continue working together on the best possible performance of the production technology even after new systems have been commissioned. “Through the subscription contract, Heidelberg is also fully involved after acceptance of the press and shares responsibility for its availability and performance. This benefits both of us, Heidelberg as a supplier and Vogel Druck as a reliable print service provider,” concludes Jörg Kuchenmeister.