More than 400 customers attended the Commercial Day at the Print Media Centre Shanghai, China. Under the motto Turn Passion Into Profit, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) presented sustainable solutions to make commercial print shops more successful and to guide them on their way to the Smart Print Shop. The fully automated process chain with the Push to Stop philosophy, which is only interrupted manually if necessary, was demonstrated in networked live presentations. This optimised, intelligent production process stands for higher production reliability and thus for more productivity and cost-effectiveness.
The Smart Print Shop is based on the Prinect workflow, which completely networks and automates processes from prepress, digital and offset presses through to postpress. This reduces contact points in the production process and sustainably increases process efficiency. Visitors were very impressed with the integrated and touch-point reduced operation of the Speedmaster CS 92-5 LE UV in combination with immediate processing with a Polar Cutting System 300 thanks to the dry sheets in the delivery.
Teamwork was presented between the newly launched Versafire EV and the Speedmaster SX 74-4. The highly automated Speedmaster SX 74 is built – like all the other Sheetfed machines on show – in the Heidelberg plant Qingpu nearby Shanghai and was first shown to the Asian market with the new features AutoPlate Pro. Thanks to integration and presetting, five jobs were printed in less than 15 minutes and immediately finished with a Stahlfolder machine. Thus Push to Stop results in a production, which is easy, secure, efficient and profitable. At the end of the demonstrations, the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) was calculated and it was demonstrated how an increase in OEE can make production more efficient and job runs shorter and shorter. A Speedmaster CD 102-7+L UV presented a 7-colour multicolour job, demonstrating the wide range of spot colours achievable, which covers the needs of more and more embellishment.
A key component of Heidelberg’s Lifecycle Solution portfolio for customers is the Saphira consumables, which aim to maximise the OEE utilisation of their presses through maximum quality, productivity and production reliability. The new Versafire generation EV/EP digital printing system provides customers with a high degree of flexibility and creative possibilities, enabling them to further expand their digital business model through diversification and optimisation. With the new ‘Invisible Red’ special toner, there are now a total of five spot colours for the Versafire EV. Just like white, varnish, neon yellow and neon pink, ‘Invisible Red’ provides additional embellishment options. For the first time, it is now also possible to print first white and then the process colours CMYK. When printing on coloured paper and foils, extraordinary effects can be achieved – all in one pass, where previously several processes were necessary, which significantly improves efficiency.
The Versafire EP is a high-performance digital printing system that scores with constant stability and high productivity. Thanks to the new inline calibration, consistent colour stability is achieved from the first sheet to the last. New formats offer extended application possibilities. The Print Media Centre Shanghai, which is integrated into the Heidelberg plant in Qingpu, serves as a central showroom for China, other Asian Pacific markets and neighbouring regions such as northeast Russia. Here, state-of-the-art technology and service solutions are presented, information events are held, and intensive tests and analyses of equipment, consumables and workflow solutions are carried out. Customer operators are also trained here. The Print Media Centre Shanghai has fully integrated workflows for commercial and packaging printers.
