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The revamp of its Print Media Center in Germany will demonstrate HEIDELBERG’s full workflow of modern print jobs
HEIDELBERG is revamping its Print Media Center (PMC) in Wiesloch-Walldorf, Germany, offering what it describes as “the biggest exhibition space in the industry”.
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. The company has labelled the centre the “Home of Print”.
Offering reportedly the largest exhibition space in the printing industry at more than 9,000sq m, 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 revamped centre, due to be completed by Spring 2025, will include the range of new solutions showcased by HEIDELBERG at drupa 2024. This will include the recently launched Jetfire 50 digital inkjet printing system, made in collaboration with Canon. Customer-specific areas will also be available for live demonstrations.
Speaking of the revamp, management board member for technology and sales at HEIDELBERG, Dr David Schmedding, says: “In the Home of Print, HEIDELBERG will be showcasing the future of printing.
“There’s quite simply nowhere else customers can find out as much about the latest technologies for print production, and work with our experts to explore and be presented with solutions that are tailored to their precise requirements.”
HEIDELBERG also released further details about its new Prinect Touch Free software, a production manager option for full automation in digital and offset printing. The AI-powered technology is designed to calculate layouts, printing methods, and workflows autonomously, increasing efficiency and automating a variety of processes.
According to a statement from HEIDELBERG, Prinect Touch Free is based on the app modules ‘Pathfinder’, ‘Decision Maker’, ‘Batch Building’, and ‘Auto Scheduler’.
‘Pathfinder’ works out all the production paths that are possible with the production technology available, drawing up the relevant layouts and calculating the production costs for each possible path.
By factoring in costs and the delivery date, ‘Decision Maker’ decides which of the production paths identified should be selected and considers alternatives.
In the ‘Batch Building’ module, pending print orders are grouped together to minimise any machine changeovers and paper changes. It also optimises processes in post-press operations.
Finally, the ‘Auto Scheduler’ is responsible for optimising the production schedule on an ongoing basis.
Speaking to Print Monthly during HEIDELBERG UK’s Digital Customer Day, head of software solutions Paul Chamberlain explained: “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.”
