Heidelberg sells 11 presses in ANZ + Labelfire

Press giant Heidelberg has seen a successful year for orders from local printers - with 11 new offset presses going into Australia and New Zealand, as well as a new Labelfire hybrid label press.

The 11 new offset presses have gone into all states and are mainly the B1 machines, with a few B2 machines also entering the market. The Push-to-Stop XL 106 Series, the new Speedmaster CX 104, and the XL75 are all being installed at local printers.

The new CX 104, launched at the company’s 'It’s Showtime' global event last month, has already had two orders – one for Printcraft in Brisbane and one for a Melbourne operation, with both presses – a five-colour and a six-colour – coming with inline coaters. The CX 104 is aimed at commercial printers, and packaging printers alike.

The growing number of press sales in ANZ reflects the overall global trend for Heidelberg; the company virtually doubled its sheetfed offset orders in its first quarter (April-June) when compared with the same period last year, with CEO Rainer Hunsdorfer proclaiming, "Heidelberg is back" at the company's AGM last month.

Sheetfed offset printing remains the primary print method in Australia, and around the world. Although digital technology seems to be dominating the A3 market well and truly now, interestingly, Heidelberg is also currently working on several A3 Offset projects withing Australia, but certainly in B2, B1 and large format offset remains the number one process.

In addition to its offset presses, Heidelberg has also recently installed a new Gallus Labelfire hybrid press in a New Zealand print house - the third in the ANZ region. The Labelfire is a combination of Gallus’ bestselling ECS340 Flexopress and the latest digital inkjet technology.

Savas Mystakidis, managing director of Heidelberg ANZ said: "With the industry suffering over the last decade, Heidelberg, like many other companies, has had to change the way it did business. Restructuring was a must and prioritising our customers’ needs and wants together as partners moving forward was the main focus.

“We are looking towards building even better relationships with our partners, who rely on us to provide them with the service, consumables, spare parts and back up that they require to help keep them in a strong business position. We are in it for the long game, with our strong local presence in Australia and New Zealand being a source of comfort to many of our partners, knowing that we are only a phone call away. This has certainly helped provide some confidence in their decision to reinvest with Heidelberg technology, which is shown in recent local and worldwide success.”