The global Linoprint partnership between Heidelberg and Ricoh announced at drupa last year has finally made its way down under, with the Linoprint Digital Press range and the Prinect Digital Print Manager systems now available to local printers in the one package.
Heidelberg and Ricoh teamed up to revamp the Linoprint brand in early 2012, with the German offset press giant taking on Ricoh’s digital print technology and splicing it with its own Prinect Digital Print Manager software.
Now, just over a year later, the press range is available in Australia. Under the agreement Heidelberg in Australia is selling the digital printing systems for short runs from Ricoh under the names Heidelberg Linoprint C901, Linoprint C751 and Linoprint C651.
Heidelberg’s workflow software, Prinect Digital Print Manager, is now being shipped packaged with the Linoprint presses. Heidelberg claims that Prinect is the only software package on the market that can manage the entire workflow between digital and offset printing platforms including colour management.
Richard Timson (pictured), Heidelberg Australia’s managing director, said the companies had devised a joint strategy to, “ensure our customers are supported in the way they are accustomed. This is a Heidelberg solution and as such it meets the high standards of the Heidelberg brand,”
“This is a unique opportunity for true digital print integration into the offset workflow. It’s not about adding another machine that is independent to the workflow. Rather it is about print shops benefitting from workflow management advances which will turn the focus back to printing profitably by utilising the right press for the right job,” he said.
For Timson, the Prinect technology combined with Ricoh’s digital print technology represents a bridge between digital and offset printing processes for offset printers who want to adopt a hybrid approach to their business.
“In basic terms it allows offset printers to seamlessly integrate a quality digital print workflow into their operation enhancing their offer to customers,” said Timson. “From a productivity perspective, when Prinect Digital Print Manager is integrated into an existing Prinect Workflow, it becomes a one-of-a-kind hybrid workflow that allows the customer to change easily and rapidly between offset and digital printing at any time.”
Kathy Wilson, general manager of Business Solutions and Production at Ricoh Australia said, “With this partnership the market has two extremely strong, well-regarded global businesses working side by side and that’s a very positive message to customers. We are very pleased to be working with Heidelberg in Australia on this solution."
Wilson, who saw Heidelberg’s Prinect Digital Print Manager in action at drupa, said it was "very impressive to see how this unique software manages the workflow across both digital and offset printing platforms and the benefits were immediately obvious”.
While the Heidelberg Linoprint C901, Linoprint C751 and Linoprint C651 are now available in Australia with the Prinect workflow system, Heidelberg says there are slight variations to the offer for the New Zealand market.
Heidelberg is encouraging customers in NZ to contact their appropriate Heidelberg account manager for specific details.