HEIDELBERG LAUNCHES RAFT OF NEW KIT, AUSSIES ORDER NEW PRESSES

The world’s biggest offset press manufacturer Heidelberg launched a new B1 press, showed a new version of its flagship press specifically designed for in-mould and wet-glue label printing, and launched a new rotary die cutting unit, at a major global online event this week.

It’s Showtime was presented around the world, with Australia and New Zealand first to view, and was run in conjunction with the in-person trade show China Print that is currently taking place, where Heidelberg is showing all its latest products.

The company used the event – which ran with a young, diverse group of presenters and managers, reflecting the company’s new modern outlook – to launch its new B1 press, the Speedmaster CX104, which is targeted at commercial printers running two shifts, high volume packaging printers, and special applications printers.

The new press is based on the CX platform, for which Heidelberg says it has manufactured 50,000 units, but comes with a number of significant enhancements, including intelligent assistance, a new coating unit and innovations in inking and dampening, all of which says Heidelberg, will take productivity to new levels.

At the event Heidelberg made of much of what it described as an “outstanding” price-performance ratio of the new Speedmaster CX104. It comes with a "slight" price increase over the CX102 series which it replaces, and as a "rule of thumb" is about 15 per cent less than the XL106 series on a like-for-like configuration.

It is available as from now, with Heidelberg already having taken orders for 500 units, and saying, "if you want one under the Christmas tree you'll need to get your skates on".

Two Australian print businesses, one in Brisbane and one in Melbourne, have become the first local printers to order the press - one a five-colour with coater, the other a six-colour with coater.

Heidelberg has also launched a sister press, the CX92, which is the 920mm size machine with many of the same features, developed due to demand from China, but the press will be widely available.

“Heidelberg is investing in the industry’s future. With the new, intelligent Speedmaster CX 104, we’re making our customers and Heidelberg itself far more competitive,” said CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer. “We have developed the press for a broad cross-section of customers and a wide range of applications to target the vast market potential. With our new universal press in the 70 x 100 format, Heidelberg is making state-of-the-art sheetfed offset technology available to a large number of print shops worldwide.”

The CX104 has a new control system based on smartphone concept, and runs on IntelliStart 3. Heidelberg says all aspects of operation have been improved to make the press easier for the operator. Intelligent assistance includes wash assistance, powder assistance and colour assistance pro, which essentially automate the tasks.

Heidelberg described the coating unit as “a quantum leap” saying a time saving of up to 75 percent based on one-person operation has already been confirmed under real-life conditions by pilot customers. It says the new coating blanket cylinder will make changing coating forms easier and up to 25 per cent faster. A combination clamping system for coating blankets and coating plates maximises the number of possible applications. The pairing of a new, compact bearing unit and a new chambered blade concept ensures homogeneous application of coatings, even at the highest speeds.

The CX104 has free scalability, which extends all the way through to Push-to-Stop functionality. Specifications go up to 15 printing and coating units. Heidelberg says it already has two orders from packaging printers for the 15 unit version, which is 30 metres long.

Heidelberg also launched its new 106 XL 8+L YYY eight-colour plus coater plus three drying units press, designed specifically for the thin films for in-mould and wet glue label printing.

Running at 14,000sph the new press has implemented aerodynamic technologies to enable to achieve consistent stability and quality on thin films at high speeds.

Heidelberg says in-mould labels are an attractive markets for print because they show stable growth in a stable market, have been unaffected by Covid, and are used on an increasing amount of products, from cheeses to ice cream to paints to oils.

The event also saw Heidelberg launch the new XL 106D single drive rotary B1 die cut unit. Heidelberg launched the world’s first rotary die cutter at drupa 2008, which was a double drive solution. The company says the new single drive version is smaller, costs less, and uses less power.

It's Showtime also had developments in cutting from Polar, in folding with an new Perfect Grip roller, and in die cutting from MK Master Matrix.