Jürgen Otto has been CEO of HEIDELBERG since July 2024. Prior to this, he established automotive supplier Brose as a world leader over several years. The 60-year-old is known for turning things round at companies.

He talks to us about his growth plans for HEIDELBERG and explains what the company can learn from elite sport.

What does the long and eventful history of HEIDELBERG teach us?

The key to success is going about things in the right way and adapting quickly to changes. After 175 years, it is safe to say that HEIDELBERG has managed to do that for a long while. However, structural change is very much in evidence in the printing industry, too. Mediocrity no longer cuts it in any industry. Everything is too transparent, too digital, and too fast-moving for that.

Outstanding achievements have made HEIDELBERG great, and we need to build on this foundation. Just like the German soccer giant Bayern Munich, we must win every game. We are competing in the in?dustry equivalent of the Champions League as a global market leader – a position we want to maintain in the future, too.

What do you see as the company’s greatest strengths – and what needs to improve?

It is important to achieve a balance between inventiveness and efficiency, and between entrepreneurship and social responsibility. Inventing new things requires us to push the boundaries of technology, while also factoring in the reality of the business situation and the sales perspective.

Where can we deliver real benefits for our customers? Does the market understand what we are doing? Are we providing our customers with good advice and service? If we find answers to these questions, we will maintain our technological lead and successfully move into new sectors.

Where do you see potential for HEIDELBERG to grow in the core market of printing?

Rising standards of living worldwide are boosting demand for packaging, and not just for food products. Besides machines, our aim is to sell manufacturers the upstream and downstream infrastructure, too, including prepress, postpress, software, automation, and robotics solutions. Today, we can offer virtually unmanned print production. Everything is connected through our Prinect software platform.

We have the data, the control intelligence throughout the entire value chain, and all the components. That’s highly attractive to our customers. We also offer services in over 170 different countries. Our customers appreciate our virtues of punctuality, reliability, technical expertise, fast response times, and total customer focus. Generations of employees have worked to build the excellent reputation of HEIDELBERG.

As regards digital printing, is the cooperation with Canon here to stay?

It’s a win-win situation. Canon gains access to our sales and service network, while we can provide our customers with a technology-neutral range of offset and digital solutions.

Our portfolio is now complete, covering commercial digital inkjet printing, too. In this way, we are ensuring our customers are successful even with smaller batch sizes.

What are your strategic goals?

Today, we find ourselves in a situation where we have capacities and expertise - especially in Germany - that we no longer need for our core business—and we aim to market these in the best possible way. This mainly includes our production network with milling centers and the foundry. In addition, we have final assembly capacities, software, and power electronics.

We can develop, test, and manufacture components and complete systems—and later provide global services. Our core competencies lie in high-precision mechanics, electrics, electronics, and control software. The more complex and demanding the task, the better. As a partner to traditional industry and smaller machine manufacturers, HEIDELBERG also offers complete solutions including worldwide service.

We are also tapping into new fields—currently in the hydrogen sector. Billions will be invested in this market over the coming years. Our system components are in demand here, and a pilot plant is already successfully in operation.

How does the e-mobility business model fit into the new setup?

The topic will become increasingly important globally. As battery technology continues to advance—with lower costs and longer ranges—this form of driving will soon be the only option. At least in highly developed countries and cities. That's why it makes sense for us to be active in the field of fast charging in addition to wallboxes.

We want to cover the entire ecosystem of charging and electric operation. This includes billing and battery checks during charging. We have also made progress in talks with those who want to drive forward industrial high-performance charging.

What values are important to you, and how does that fit in with your work here at HEIDELBERG?

Transparency, openness, discipline, decisiveness, a readiness to take risks, and speed. In relation to HEIDELBERG, that means we as a company must respond to changes quickly as the situation requires. Digitalization-related structural change, but also COVID, supply chain problems, and geopolitical instabilities have shown this to be vital in recent years.

Not every crisis is bad for a company. Market changes create opportunities. Our global setup and our expertise make us resilient. Every day, we discover potential for doing things better.

Where do you see HEIDELBERG in ten years’ time?

HEIDELBERG will still be a leading company on the printing press market and will have gained a foothold in the wider industrial sector. We will also be playing a key role in green tech and electromobility.

As we see it, our strategic initiatives in the period to 2029 offer growth potential amounting to over 300 million euros. HEIDELBERG will remain an attractive employer