1. HEIDELBERG has been a printing press manufacturer for 175 years. Why are you specifically expanding your business into other industries?
Because we can. We have the technical capabilities and industrial power to enter new fields using our existing resources. Printing presses are among the most complex mechatronic systems. We are one of the world’s leading machine builders and leverage our expertise in high-precision, heavy-duty specialty machine construction, as well as the corresponding electrical and electronic systems, as a scaling partner in attractive growth sectors such as the security and defense industries. We also have expertise in power distribution from our core business and from Amperfied, which we can effectively apply as dualuse technology.
2. Why is HEIDELBERG the right partner for drone defense?
With its autonomous pressroom, HEIDELBERG is already demonstrating its expertise in the fields of electronics, networking, control systems, software and AI integration. Through our subsidiary HD Advanced Technologies GmbH, we are taking these core industrial competencies in the ONBERG joint venture to the next level. The geopolitical turning point in Europe is currently creating a demand that we cannot and do not want to ignore.
3. How do you ensure that your involvement in new technology fields does not distract from your core business – but rather strengthens it?
Automation, robotics, power electronics and software are also making our printing presses smarter and more autonomous. With an 80 percent “reuse” rate, there are real synergies with the core business. And our production capacities in Germany – foundry, manufacturing, assembly, electronics – together with our skilled workers, provide the industrial foundation for both business areas simultaneously.
One of HEIDELBERG’s strengths lies in its ability to quickly leverage its expertise, existing industrial infrastructure, qualified personnel and manufacturing capabilities as a scaling partner. A concrete example of this strength is the establishment of the joint venture ONBERG Autonomous Systems, a partnership between HD Advanced Technologies (HDAT) and Ondas Autonomous Systems, a leading American-Israeli provider of autonomous defense and security systems.
HDAT will utilize HEIDELBERG’s existing infrastructure, particularly at the Brandenburg an der Havel site. This site will be expanded into a leading center of excellence for drone defense and autonomous security systems. In this way, HEIDELBERG aims to make a significant contribution to the protection of critical infrastructure in Germany and among NATO partners.
With VINCORION Advanced Systems GmbH as an additional partner, HEIDELBERG has established a partnership aimed at the development, industrialization and construction of energy control and distribution systems. Furthermore, HEIDELBERG has designed, developed, produced prototypes and already presented an autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. UGVs and UAVs can be used both in the defense sector and for civilian purposes (dual use), for example in logistics or agriculture.
In the field of charging infrastructure for e-mobility, HEIDELBERG is positioning itself as a system integrator even outside the printing market. The subsidiary Amperfied has already taken over the operational management of charging infrastructure for Siemens Energy and SAP in Germany. For the software provider SAP, 1,720 existing charging points were migrated to Amperfied’s cloud backend. An expansion to approximately 3,700 charging points is planned. With its offerings in both alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) environments, Amperfied addresses not only public and commercial projects for passenger cars but also the growing sector of electric trucks.
As an external technology partner, HEIDELBERG is increasingly launching industrial system solutions fo its customers. In addition to its existing expertise in casting, assembly, manufacturing, electronics and consulting, the Company aims to offer more integrated services and create greater value through its in-house system expertise – for example, in the area of 3D printers.
