Herbert Walkers continues £10m expansion with new Speedmaster XL 106
Herbert Walkers will take delivery of its second Speedmaster XL 106 from Heidelberg in June
The company held its Digital Customer Day following a year of innovations on September 25th at Stockley Park, Uxbridge
With 2024 dominated by many large industry events such as the long-awaited drupa print exhibition in Düsseldorf, manufacturers are using the latter quarter of the year to catch-up with customers and revisit the technology and announcements made earlier in the year.
A company that had a big presence at drupa was of course, HEIDELBERG, which had a large presence in Hall 1 at Messe Düsseldorf alongside POLAR Cutting Technologies which also has machines sold via HEIDELBERG.
The Digital Customer Day was created as a chance for HEIDELBERG to introduce its Digital Print Ecosystem to UK customers, demonstrating the full workflow of modern print jobs from pre-press through to finishing.
Paul Chamberlain, head of software solutions at HEIDELBERG, opened the day by highlighting the top “pain points” printers are facing.
According to research conducted by HEIDELBERG, the top issues reported were a shortage of skilled workers alongside challenges like pricing and automation.
Chamberlain reminded visitors of the company’s theme for drupa 2024, which was “unfold your potential”.
HEIDELBERG’s way of meeting this motto has included a range of different solutions including a focus on the digital sector. So far the company has offered a range of inkjet solutions for label printing as well as offering its new B3 digital printing system with Canon.
Speaking to Print Monthly at the event, Chamberlain said: “It’s nice to see customers from the digital perspective, who don’t usually come to these events because we’re usually talking about offset litho. Now we’re offering toner-based and inkjet alongside offset litho, we’re seeing a bigger variety of customers, many of which are offset commercial printers who own digital machines and want to see what’s new.”
At the event, Chamberlain and the HEIDELBERG team wanted to emphasise how it can take away certain pain points from printers by showcasing the abilities of its different software solutions and the effectiveness of its technology in an end-to-end print production process.
At the Digital Customer Day, the company was joined by Morgana, Antalis, and Ricoh, all of which were there to demonstrate the integration of their products with HEIDELBERG solutions.
Software solutions included HEIDELBERG’s new Prinect Touch Free product, a production manager option for full automation in digital and offset printing.
Speaking about the technology and its integration with AI, Chamberlain says: “This is something new that will come out in 2025 which works with either an offset litho, toner, or inkjet press. It will essentially look at the jobs, take the information, and then automatically send the prints to a chosen device depending on what is more cost effective — offset, toner, or digital.
“The system will also look at whether it can batch jobs together as well as look at the print schedule so it will know when the machine is undergoing maintenance or whether the press needs fixing.”
During the event HEIDELBERG also demonstrated the colours achievable in its technology by comparing colours on different types of presses. During a live feed to colleagues in Germany, the business showed how prints from both a litho and digital press (the new Jetfire 50) produced almost indistinguishable colours.
During the live feed HEIDELBERG also said the machine would require operators to be trained for two days on the press.
When asked about maintenance, HEIDELBERG stated that the press will automatically clean printheads but that the print belt will need to be cleaned every day when used frequently.
HEIDELBERG states the machine can produce up to 2.5 million SRA3 duplex sheets per month, while staff in Germany said that with certain settings and solutions the press is able to achieve up to ten million prints a month.
Speaking at the end of the day, Chamberlain concluded: “It’s been a really good event, and I’ve been very pleased with the team, especially when you look at the young operators we have in the room.
“Matt, our Prinect consultant, did a fantastic presentation, but also Connor did a great job presentation too. He’s our digital apprentice and has only been with us for a year straight after college, so he’s had to learn all about the machine and the industry basically within six months.”
Overall, HEIDELBERG’s Digital Customer Day featured a range of different applications and expertise, complemented by an Oktoberfest style lunch, demonstrating HEIDELBERG’s dedication to diversification and efficiency in a predictably German style.
