Hunsdörfer: Heidelberg is back

Fresh from the global It’s Showtime event and speaking at the company’s AGM, Rainer Hunsdörfer, CEO of the world’s biggest press manufacturer, declared “Heidelberg is back”, as he outlined the company’s growth plans with optimism.

Hunsdörfer said the two-year Transformation programme created to turn around the business was almost complete, and had led to a large reduction in its break even figure, down to €1.9bn, with the CEO saying the company was now on a solid financial footing.

The investment market seems to agree, with Heidelberg’s share prices up by more than 200 per cent since last year’s AGM.

Hunsdörfer said the company was transitioning into a technology developer, and would leverage its knowledge and expertise into new growth areas, as well as print, pointing to its success in the e-charger market, where it has become an industry leader, and which has now been spun off into a new dedicated company.

He said Heidelberg was at the beginning of an “enormous growth spurt” from new innovation and developing products form outside its traditional areas.

Spekaing to the virtual attendees he said: “Ladies and gentlemen, we are developing from a printing press supplier into a technology company.”

He looked to China for growth in offset presses, anticipating a 20 per cent uptick in annual sales over the next five years. China is also set to become the company’s primary parts manufacturing hub, with a target of 85 per cent of parts to be manufactured there.

Packaging will continue to be a key market for the business, with a target to increase sales, including Gallus, to more than €1bn from the current €860m in the next five years.

In digital solutions, which includes Heidelberg Plus, the clouds based Prinect, and the Zaikio open platform, the company is looking to turbo charge sales, aiming to more than double them from €200m to €450m in the next five years.

Last month Heidelberg launched a raft of new solutions, including the new Speedmaster CX104, which have been designed to provide printers with improved productivity.