Consumables

Saphira consumables from Heidelberg

Tuesday 02. December 2014 - Tested consumables for enhanced performance and profitability

Printing is process engineering. In the complex interplay between press, chemicals, and paper, it is the optimum composition of the consumables that determines the productivity of the printing process and thus has a direct impact on a print shop’s profitability. Despite this, many print shops keep on testing and mixing until they find the ideal combination of ink, coating, paper, and other consumables for their press. The amount invested in consumables over the service life of the relevant equipment is roughly three times that of its purchase price. This results in a high total outlay and involves coordinating numerous suppliers. But it’s a different story if print shops opt to use tested and approved consumables from the Saphira portfolio of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg).
Heidelberg offers a comprehensive range of Saphira consumables for sheetfed offset printing and has made significant additions to this portfolio in recent months. The key new features consist of additions to the Saphira Eco product line for environmentally friendly print production, a specific offering for LE UV printing, Saphira Low Migration products for food packaging, and consumables geared for use with Speedmaster Anicolor presses.
Sustainable printing with Saphira Eco – demand for green production materials continues to grow
When it comes to consumables, environmental aspects are playing an increasingly important role and are sometimes decisive. The demand for green production materials is growing all the time. Key focal points include the sustainable use of raw materials, substituting environmentally harmful substances with more eco-friendly alternatives, reducing material and energy consumption, and offsetting the remaining CO2 emissions. Heidelberg lists all facts relating to the environmental compatibility of consumables in its own catalog of criteria. This has just been revised and is freely accessible at www.heidelberg.com/saphira-eco. Heidelberg is the only supplier in the industry to offer a catalog of this kind.
Heidelberg has expanded its range of particularly eco-friendly consumables under the Saphira Eco label.
Clean packaging – Saphira Low Migration for food packaging
The production of food packaging is subject to the strictest of legislation. One of the key factors in the production process is the consumables used at the press and postpress stages. Harmful substances in these consumables must not be transferred to the packaged foodstuffs and alter their composition and/or taste and smell. Consequently, all consumables used must meet the strict requirements of EU Regulation (EC) No. 1935/2004. Saphira Low Migration products satisfy all these requirements and round off the existing portfolio of equipment, service, and software solutions offered by Heidelberg for packaging printing.
With its Saphira Low Migration range, Heidelberg offers a comprehensive portfolio of low migration consumables suitable for the production of packaging in the food sector.
Energy-efficient UV printing with Saphira LE UV
At drupa 2012, Heidelberg unveiled its DryStar LE (Low Energy) UV drying technology, an energy-efficient process that provides a gateway to UV printing for commercial print shops in particular. The process uses highly reactive UV inks, which reduces the number of dryer lamps required in the press and thus cuts energy consumption significantly. This technology has already become established on many markets. Heidelberg has added ink product lines geared precisely to this drying technology to its Saphira portfolio so as to offer users machine technology and consumables from a single source.
Heidelberg has augmented its Drystar LE UV technology with perfectly coordinated Saphira consumables.
Saphira Anicolor – even greener
Saphira Ink Anicolor S100 and H100, which Heidelberg recently launched for its Anicolor technology, are free of mineral oil, are produced using vegetable oil, and support printing in up to seven colors. This makes Anicolor technology – which also benefits from low paper waste and energy consumption – even greener.
All the consumables under the comprehensive Saphira brand are coordinated products that have been tested by Heidelberg for quality and performance.
Heidelberg has amassed considerable experience in using Saphira consumables on its presses. It has also built up broad-based specialist know-how through its own research and development work, in-house Print Media Centers, and practical tests conducted in cooperation with customers.
Tested and found to be ideal
All the consumables in the Saphira range are coordinated products that have been tested by Heidelberg for quality and performance. They are optimized for the relevant machine technology and therefore represent a key factor for profitable production, which enables users to get the most out of their investment in a press. In practice, this optimization leads to higher machine availability and productivity, less paper waste, and higher-quality results.
In the key growth segment of consumables, Heidelberg operates both as a supplier and as a manufacturer of items such as coatings. In 2008, it took over Hi-Tech Coatings, which had an annual production level of some 20,000 metric tons of dispersion and UV coatings at its two sites in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Heidelberg has gone on to significantly increase its market share by gradually opening further coating production facilities across the globe. This gives customers rapid access to an extended coatings portfolio through just a single contact.
What’s more, Heidelberg has recently expanded its selection of printing chemical consumables by taking over BluePrint Products NV in Belgium. This company offers a comprehensive range of dampening and washup solutions for sheetfed offset presses and has a particularly innovative approach to environmentally friendly products. Heidelberg is planning a global rollout of these products along the same lines as its coatings portfolio.
All in all, Heidelberg markets some 5,000 different consumables worldwide. All the consumables sold in Europe meet the requirements of the REACH chemicals regulations.
Better quality, higher productivity
Heidelberg has amassed considerable experience in using Saphira consumables on its presses. It has also built up broad-based specialist know-how through its own research and development work, in-house Print Media Centers providing customer demonstrations, and practical tests conducted in cooperation with customers. The company analyzes all its findings and then puts them at the disposal of its customers through Saphira products and the services delivered by its application specialists.
Consolidating procurement processes
Another difference between Heidelberg and other companies is that it offers material combinations spanning the entire process chain rather than covering only individual parts of it. So if there is a reciprocal effect between certain products – such as ink, dampening solution, and blanket – Heidelberg tests them together. This is the only way to ensure that the products really do work together smoothly.
Besides improving print quality, the “one-stop shop” principle plays a big part in simplifying internal processes at a print shop. This does not just apply to the printing process itself, but also to procurement processes and the commercial activities they involve. According to estimates from Heidelberg, concentrating on a single supplier for all consumables enables print shops to reduce stock levels by an average of around 30 percent and thus significantly lower their capital tie-in. They can also cut the volume of invoices by up to 70 percent.
Complete packages boost performance – and profits
To enable print shops to start using a newly acquired press straight away, with the minimum of fuss and optimum print results, Heidelberg offers Saphira Starter Kits. These are complete packages with consumables that have been combined specifically for the relevant press technology. The individual components of these packages – such as printing plate, roller, ink, blanket or dampening solution – have been designed to complement each other and the applications and have undergone an approval process. Thanks to these kits, Heidelberg customers can achieve optimum, reproducible production results, cut their makeready times and paper waste, and increase production speeds. For specific requirements such as Anicolor or high-speed UV presses, Heidelberg offers Saphira Performance Kits that enable users to leverage these machines’ full productivity.
Saphira consumables are now sold in numerous countries via the online shop operated by Heidelberg. The coming year will see a completely revised, even more customer-friendly version launched in a whole host of countries – with numerous new functions, additional contents, and easier, more convenient operation.
Heidelberg delivers its consumables via its own distribution network or selected partners such as paper wholesalers. If required, supplies can even be sent by express delivery or up to twice a day. In many cases, this just-in-time delivery service eliminates the need for print shops to keep stock on site. As a result, logistics also play a big part in delivering a cost-effective solution for consumables.