NexPress 2100 Shows Early Success

Sales reach the century mark in 2001, meeting goal; print volumes exceed expectations

Seven months after it began taking orders for the NexPress 2100 digital production color press, Heidelberg is demonstrating how the press is meeting the evolving needs of print customers and driving new channels of growth for the print media industry.

At the IPEX 2002 trade show, Heidelberg is reporting that it has sold over 150 presses since the launch of the NexPress 2100 in September, which is on track with its plan to have sales in the hundreds by end of this year. With availability in 11 countries, the presence of the NexPress 2100 continues to expand into additional global markets, including Mexico, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

Heidelberg also announced:

• Average monthly print volumes are exceeding company expectations by nearly 20 percent, currently totaling more than 12 million impressions and growing at an almost exponential rate.
• More than 80 percent of customers are regularly producing jobs with run lengths greater than 1,000. Run lengths range from as small as one, to as large as tens of thousands, particularly with variable data applications.
• NexPress 2100 customers are making money with the machine. Most report that they are surprised by how quickly the machine begins producing jobs they can sell to customers, with outstanding image quality and less than five percent waste, including paper waste.
• Customers are enthusiastic about the NexPress user serviceability concept, including operator replaceable components and onboard NexPert support. More than 70 percent of all service and maintenance requirements are being handled on-site by the operators, eliminating the need for service calls and thereby increasing uptime.

"NexPress 2100 sales fulfilled our expectations in 2001, and we are well on our way toward achieving our 20 percent digital color market share goal by the end of 2003," said Wolfgang Pfizenmaier, president of Heidelberg's Digital Solution Center. "More importantly, print providers are already profiting from the productivity of the digital color press and from the broad range of exciting new applications they can provide their customers - from short runs and quick turnaround, to full variable-data printing."

Pfizenmaier noted that NexPress 2100 customers also are benefiting from the machine's best-in-class uptime, image quality, reliability and consistency. Satisfied global customers range from VLM, a marketing services company in Dublin, Ireland, to Sir Speedy Inc., a worldwide franchiser of printing, copying and document management centers headquartered in Mission Viejo, Calif., U.S.

Visitors to IPEX are seeing the performance of the NexPress 2100 firsthand in the Heidelberg booth, where the company is continuously producing a full range of ready-to-finish sets in a variety of applications, including on-demand, full variable-data brochures.

NexPress Solutions LLC, Heidelberg's joint venture with Eastman Kodak Company, also is announcing its NexTremeTM variable-data software at the IPEX show. The variable-data printing solution enables new higher-value customized printing services for NexPress 2100 users (see separate release).

Image:
With over 150 presses sold now the start of the NexPress 2100 has to be marked as very successful.

For further information:
Europe
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Corporate Communications
Matthias Hartung
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 50 77
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92 50 46
E-mail: matthias.hartung@heidelberg.com

USA
Heidelberg Digital Solution Center
Director, Communications
Doug Sprei
Tel.: +1 (0)585 512 80 54
E-mail: doug.sprei@heidelberg.com