Heidelberg's new partnership with Chinese manufacturer Masterwork Machinery (MK) is part of a plan to extend its reach into the folding carton market. Heidelberg dismissed suggestions it might be ‘diluting its brand image’ by allying with an Asian manufacturer.
“Anyone who has visited the MK plant cannot fail to be impressed by the quality of its research, design and manufacturing facilities,” said Heidelberg board member Harald Weimer. “We set a high benchmark for quality here at Heidelberg but we had no qualms about working with MK, because we detected a similar working philosophy.
“We see this partnership with MK as an entirely positive move for Heidelberg as a manufacturing supplier and for the global carton converting market. Their technology is first class, and our sales and support network is second to none. I see it as a ‘win-win-win’ situation – Heidelberg benefits from having new technology to sell, MK benefits from having foreign markets to develop, and the converters benefit by having an exciting range of competitive machines to improve their businesses.
“MK is the largest manufacturer of die cutters in China with a 90% share in the tobacco market and 50% of the overall Chinese packaging market" he said. "But it has only a limited export business because it lacks a network of sales, service and parts support – and this is where Heidelberg can step in and bring its expertise and the professionalism that customers demand from a supplier these days,” said Weimer.
“We visited several Asian manufacturers but were in no doubt that MK was the stand-out company,” said Dr Frank Schaum, head of post press at Heidelberg. “They have more than 80 technicians working in R&D alone. To be as successful as MK is in the Chinese tobacco industry, which has some of the highest added value print in the world, speaks volumes for its quality.
“Because the finished product is key, the whole process is vital and in post press this involves a greater involvement of labour than elsewhere in production," said Schaum. "With run lengths shortening worldwide there is a real need not only to strip out cost, as wages are rising everywhere, but also crucially to simplify and shorten make-ready – and increased automation offers the solution as well as providing better quality control. Time to market is the driver," he said.
It is this need to manage technology and respond to market changes that Heidelberg sees as key to its future growth in the packaging post press sector. The partnership with MK forms the platform on which it can build its business globally, said Weimer, but he's keen to point out that while its new MK Promatrix and MK Easymatrix die cutters will become its volume sellers in the carton market, the existing 100 or so users of the Dymatrix and Varimatrix ranges will continue to receive full support. “What the new MK die cutters will do is allow us to tap into the volume market as well, where high levels of sophistication and performance are not as important as reliable day-to-day production at a price level that more can afford."
“We are delighted to be working with the market leader,” said Wells Fu, international trade manager for MK and Heidelberg’s liaison man with the Chinese factory. “Heidelberg offers MK the opportunity to grow our business in the global market in a way that we could never have achieved alone."