HEIDELBERG and Canon sign deal confirming partnership

HEIDELBERG has officially confirmed its collaboration with Canon on the new Jetfire 50 B3 inkjet printing system, with the full market launch of the machine on track for Spring of next year.

Members of the top management of HEIDELBERG and Canon met at HEIDELBERG’s new ‘Home of Print’ headquarters in Wiesloch-Walldorf, Germany, to sign contracts confirming the collaboration originally announced at drupa 2024.

HEIDELBERG will incorporate the new Jetfire 50 B3 inkjet printing system with its Prinect workflow, incorporating it into its range of hybrid production solutions that includes offset printing. There will also be a B2 version dubbed the Jetfire 75 which will be added to the portfolio in the future.

At the in-person meeting, HEIDELBERG chief executive officer Jürgen Otto, and chief technology and sales officer Dr David Schmedding, gave Canon representatives an overview of the Jetfire 50’s market launch plans, which are currently underway.

Interest in the Jetfire 50 has reportedly remained consistently high, with pre-orders for the machine are already rolling in.

Potential users are said to be particularly interested in the option of integrating the system into a hybrid and AI-controlled production environment.

The Jetfire 50 has been available for customer demonstrations at HEIDELBERG’s ‘Home of Print’ site as well as the HEIDELBERG showroom in Japan.

First systems to be installed for customers as early as spring 2025. Commenting on the collaboration, Otto says: “The digital printing collaboration with Canon marks a milestone in the growth strategy for our core business.

“Besides selling the Jetfire 50 itself, we will also benefit from recurring sales from services and consumables throughout the press’s lifetime. In commercial printing, that also means we can share in the growing digital printing volume and significantly strengthen our market position.”

HEIDELBERG recently revamped its Print Media Center (PMC), labelling the centre the ‘Home of Print’ and offering what it describes as “the biggest exhibition space in the industry”.

Spanning more than 9,000sq m in size, the PMC will give existing and prospective customers the chance to find out about all the latest technologies and solutions from HEIDELBERG for offset, digital, and flexographic printing.

The revamp is part of HEIDELBERG’s promotion of its status as a total printing solution provider, demonstrating the full workflow of modern print jobs from pre-press through to finishing.

HEIDELBERG also recently celebrated 20 years of using applied digitalisation in printing. The company commemorated the achievement with a new publication, outlining its most important achievements in the field.