What opportunities do you see in digital printing?
A tangible shift is taking place. Offset printing will continue to account for the majority of the printed area. Nevertheless, print shops with a smaller digitally printed area will achieve the same sales, as the products have a higher value. A typical example of this is mass customization, in other words individually printing products at industry standards. There is also greater demand for digital commercial printing. This means the market is there. And it is growing.
How does HEIDELBERG want to expand its digital portfolio?
We are already using digital printing machines: the Gallus One for labels and the Versafire, which was recently completely reworked. Through our cooperation with Canon, we also now have a high-performance inkjet machine for the commercial sector in our portfolio: the Jetfire from HEIDELBERG. What’s of strategic importance to us is that these machines harmonize with other technologies in a digital ecosystem.
How do you define an ecosystem in the printing sector?
A machine, be it digital or offset, is first and foremost an output device. Then there are consumables, software, logistics, finishing machines and much more – everything a print shop needs to run its business. We are integrating these elements seamlessly into one workflow. This is what many of our approximately 27,000 customers in commercial printing want. New software supported by artificial intelligence will implement everything fully automatically. This means that orders will be sent on their way with the best resources, at the lowest production cost and at the right time, without the need for employee intervention. The optimized production methods also reduce our CO2 footprint. We want to launch this application on the market soon.
What advantages does digital printing offer in this ecosystem?
Smaller print runs of up to 2,000 pieces run more economically and often more sustainably on digital inkjet machines, because there is no need for set-up times and printing plates, for example. This reduces CO2 emissions. Also, in our experience, these days print shops and digital printing customers tend to print on-demand, so that they do not have to keep large stocks.
