Offset Printing
Spanish market on road to recovery: Print shops modernize their machine parks with Heidelberg equipment
Thursday 24. April 2014 - Anniversary: Heidelberg and Spanish distributor Hartmann celebrate 50 years together
Investments planned to boost productivity and support industrial printing
Growth in packaging and label markets and in customized presses for commercial printing
The Spanish printing market is recovering from the crisis years and print shops are investing strongly in modernizing their operations and ensuring they meet market needs. All in all, there are over 3,000 print shops in Spain. Some 80 percent of these are smaller companies who serve their local regions. The remaining 20 percent is made up of large print companies who account for over half of total print production and export to other European countries. There is considerable demand from the packaging and label sectors and for customized presses capable of providing surface finishes for the commercial sector, for example. The print shops receive support from Maquinaria Artes Gràficas Hartmann SLU (Hartmann), the Spanish distributor of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). Last year, the two companies celebrated 50 years of working together. “Hartmann offers the entire Heidelberg product range. This is at the same time as some manufacturers and competitors have disappeared from the market,” explains Wolfgang Roth, responsible at Heidelberg for distributors. Hartmann’s team of 67 staff serves half of Spain’s print shops and supplies machines for prepress, sheetfed offset, digital printing, and postpress. It also handles Saphira consumables, services, and training. Hartmann’s head office is located in Barcelona and the company also has branches in Madrid, Valencia, and sales office in Bilbao and Seville. “Business last year was good again and the current year will be even slightly better,” states Roth. “In addition to the demand for print products picking up again, this improvement is also due to the very good personal support that print shops receive from the Hartmann team and the excellent service it offers.”
First large-format Speedmaster XL 145 in Spain goes to Alzamora Packaging
Founded as a small print shop in 1900, the family-run Alzamora Group now consists of three units that specialize in commercial printing, cardboard packaging, and plastic packaging and operate worldwide. Group sales in 2013 amounted to over EUR 20 million. At the end of last year, Anna Alzamora and Jordi Llovera signed a purchase agreement for a Speedmaster XL 145 for the cardboard packaging operation Alzamora Packaging. The first machine of its kind in Spain will be installed in summer 2014 at the Sant Joan les Fonts site where it will provide customers with attention-grabbing premium-class special cartons. Various advance tests convinced Alzamora of the potential and high quality of the Speedmaster XL 145.
Packaging print shop Egisa boosts productivity and surface finishing options with customized Speedmaster XL 106
Egisa from Barcelona has been producing high-quality packaging for brand organizations in the jewelry, perfume, cosmetics, foodstuffs, and spirits industries for over 50 years. The family-owned company with its team of over 150 employees produces premium products for worldwide export. Its Speedmaster CD 102 five-color and six-color presses (each with coating unit) have recently been joined in the pressroom by a new eight-color Speedmaster XL 106 with three coating units. This special configuration can handle all conceivable surface finishing requirements and generate added value for customers. The Speedmaster XL 106 also scores highly when it comes to short and very short runs, which are in increasing demand, short makeready times, and stable and reproducible quality.
First Diana X 115 folding carton gluing machine on the Spanish market in production at Gráficas Zokoa packaging print shop
Founded in 1971, Gráficas Zokoa in Huarte, Navarra, specializes in the production of packaging for the textile and foodstuffs industries. Its team of 29 processes over 2,500 metric tons of raw materials every year. The average run size is 8,500. The company’s five-color Speedmaster XL 105 with coating unit boasts short makeready times, excellent reliability, and high productivity. Gráficas Zokoa also invested in a Diana X 115, the first of its kind in Spain, to move to a new level in productivity in postpress, too. This enables the company to supply its very demanding clientele even faster.
Impremta Pagés commercial print shop uses Varimatrix 105 CS to move into cost-effective die-cutting and embossing
Family-run Impremta Pagés, located near Girona in Catalonia, has been supplying customers with books, brochures, flyers, catalogs, postcards, and calendars of all kinds for over 65 years. The 45 employees use a total of 24 printing units from Heidelberg, including a ten-color Speedmaster SM 102. The company’s motto “Quality, speed and cost-effectiveness” sits well with its commitment to investing in state-of-the-art technology. A new Varimatrix 105 CS die-cutter was recently installed and has already proved itself a success thanks to its versatility, fast job changes involving many different jobs, and its high profitability.
Educa Borras produces games and jigsaw puzzles with five-color Speedmaster CD 102
Educa Borras, located in Sant Quirze del Vallés near Barcelona, is a leading producer of jigsaw puzzles, magic sets, and educational games. The materials it uses include wood, paper, and cardboard. The company handles everything from start to finish – from the initial idea right through to the design and manufacture. Founded in 1894, Educa Borras now has a workforce of over 140 and sells to customers in 75 countries worldwide. The company’s export share is around 40 percent. Business is doing well and to support a future increase in production Educa Borras decided to invest in a five-color Speedmaster CD 102, thereby ensuring top quality, maximum flexibility, and short makeready times. The company is also well equipped to handle future peaks in demand, since most of its annual production takes place in just two months of the year when it supplies games and jigsaw puzzles for the Christmas period.