Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG

Postfach 10 29 40
69019 Heidelberg
Deutschland

Kurfürsten-Anlage 52–60
69115 Heidelberg

Thomas Fichtl

Telefon +49 6222 82- 67123
Telefax +49 6222 82- 67129

Thomas.Fichtl@heidelberg.com
www.heidelberg.com

July 8, 2020                                                

Heidelberg’s customer communications to become individual and digital
		
•	Innovation cycles becoming shorter and require new ways of 
communicating with customers
•	Heidelberg focusses on new, virtual trade fair concepts and regional events
•	“Innovation Week”, both digital and face to face, to take place in October
•	Participation in next year’s drupa trade fair cancelled due to unforeseeable
effects of Covid-19

The trend towards ever shorter innovation cycles in the print media industry has accelerated very quickly. Data-based digital business models are emerging in very short time intervals and are constantly being modified to align with current specific customer requirements. Customers thus need to be informed about the latest trends quickly, flexibly and on an ongoing basis. This trend also affects customer communications at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg): The company will focus on offering more new, digital options to present products and innovations. 

Innovation offensive in packaging as a growth market – complete interconnection of end-to-end printshop processes to be seen live for the first time
The kick-off will be at the “Innovation Week” from 19 to 23 October 2020. Under the slogan “Unfold your potential”, Heidelberg will be presenting a wealth of product innovations that focus on packaging and commercial, including autonomous printing, end-to-end solutions, Smart Print Shop and Push-to-Stop. The Innovation Week will take place via livestream as well as face-to-face at the Wiesloch / Walldorf location. Heidelberg has already had positive experience of using digital channels in its presentation of the innovations that had been planned for this year’s drupa. 

“We will be investing more in new, virtual trade fair concepts to ensure closer and more individual customer communications as well as in regional events in our growth markets.
This means we will be able to consistently align ourselves with our customers’ expectations”, says Rainer Hundsdörfer, CEO of Heidelberg. “The Innovation Week will now enable us to communicate with our customers as soon as possible and to present our innovation offensive.”

Face-to-face dialogue will continue to be the focus at the unique Print Media Centers in Wiesloch/Walldorf, Atlanta, Shanghai, Sao Paulo and Tokyo, where we can engage with our customers specific needs directly on-site. At the centres, Heidelberg offers all of its customers and other interested parties market-specific access to product and solution demonstrations, a multitude of possibilities for direct communications with applications specialists as well as extensive training courses. The Print Media Centers have already become established locations for customers to experience live demonstrations and for validating investments. Heidelberg generally welcomes several thousand customers annually to its own demo spaces around the world.

Covid-19 has accelerated the move towards digital and local events. Although there is no way of knowing what the impact of corona will be next year, Heidelberg has to make a decision now. So the company has decided to not participate in international trade fairs next year and will thus not be taking part in drupa. In 2021, drupa will be a very different event – global travel restrictions and hygiene regulations mean significantly fewer visitors and constraints on communication. Traditional international trade fairs with busy booths and halls will very probably be difficult to implement and will likely lose their status as global meet-up events for customers and manufacturers. As a longtime partner to drupa, Heidelberg will be happy to continue to offer its experience when it comes to bringing future trade fair concepts into line with new digital possibilities and customer requirements.

For images and further information about the company please refer to the press portal of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG at www.heidelberg.com.

Photo 1: High customer interest: Heidelberg Print Media Center Packaging at the Wies-loch-Walldorf site.
Photo 2: Innovations: Heidelberg Print Media Center Commercial at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site.
Photo 3: Smart Printshop: Heidelberg Print Media Center Commercial at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site.
Photo 4: Growth market: Heidelberg Print Media Center at the Shanghai site.

Heidelberg IR now also on Twitter:
Link to IR Twitter channel: https://twitter.com/Heidelberg_IR 
Twitter handle: @Heidelberg_IR 

For further information: 

Corporate Communications 
Thomas Fichtl
Telephone: +49 6222 82- 67123
Fax: +49 6222 82- 67129
E-mail: Thomas.Fichtl@heidelberg.com

Investor Relations 
Robin Karpp 
Telephone: +49 (0)6222 82-67120 
Fax: +49 (0)6222 82-99 67120 
E-mail: robin.karpp@heidelberg.com

Wichtiger Hinweis:

Diese Presseerklärung enthält in die Zukunft gerichtete Aussagen, welche auf Annahmen und Schätzungen der Unternehmensleitung der Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft beruhen. Auch wenn die Unternehmensleitung der Ansicht ist, dass diese Annahmen und Schätzungen zutreffend sind, können die künftige tatsächliche Entwicklung und die künftigen tatsächlichen Ergebnisse von diesen Annahmen und Schätzungen aufgrund vielfältiger Faktoren erheblich abweichen. Zu diesen Faktoren können beispielsweise die Veränderung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Lage, der Wechselkurse und der Zinssätze sowie Veränderungen innerhalb der grafischen Industrie gehören. Die Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft übernimmt keine Gewährleistung und keine Haftung dafür, dass die künftige Entwicklung und die künftig erzielten tatsächlichen Ergebnisse mit den in dieser Presseerklärung geäußerten Annahmen und Schätzungen übereinstimmen werden.