High-quality inline finishing with Speedmaster CD 74

The Speedmaster CD 74 Duo from Heidelberg is now available.


The tried-and-tested concept of “flexo before offset”, as used in the Speedmaster 102 Duo, is now also available for medium format. In a single pass, coatings can be used to create a whole array of different effects, effects which otherwise could only be achieved with expensive materials or several press passes.

Examples include inline coatings such as gold, silver and pearl effects for spot or full-area application. Flexographic opaque white, applied as a spot area to metallized or transparent printing stocks, provides highly opaque backgrounds for labels. The range of printing stocks is extensive and includes paper, card and foil in thicknesses from 0.03 to 0.8 millimeters.

With the flexibility offered by the combination of flexographic and offset processes, print shops can offer an exciting and varied portfolio that singles them out from the competition. Production in a single pass saves time and money. Typical applications for a CD 74 Duo include high-quality packaging, labels and surface-finished brochures.

In the Speedmaster CD 74 Duo, the flexographic unit, i.e. the coating unit with flexographic plate, chamber doctor blade system and anilox roller, is located upstream from the offset printing units. A possible press configuration would be the flexographic unit with downstream drying station, four to six offset printing units and a double coating unit at the end.

"The Speedmaster CD 74 Duo is a good example of our customizing process enabling made-to-measure press construction," says Dr. Jürgen Rautert, Member of the Management Board, responsible for Engineering and Manufacturing at Heidelberg. "The flexibility of the CD 74 with its modular platform makes it ideal for creating configurations precisely tailored to individual customers' needs," he adds.

The applications are almost unlimited. The flexible use of infrared, hot air and UV dryers allows the use of conventional or UV inks and coatings, or a mixture of the two.
Concrete customer projects for the Speedmaster CD 74 Duo are in the application-technology clarification phase. Potential users are print shops aiming to produce high-finish short and medium runs.

Since its launch in 2002, the number of companies using the Speedmaster 102 Duo has risen to nine. They are located in Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Yugoslavia, two in North America, Poland, South Africa and Ukraine. The range of applications demonstrates the versatility and flexibility of the press, which is of interest to commercial, label and packaging printers. The press is capable of printing on paper, card and foil.

Speedmaster CD 74 with perfecting device and UV technology

Heidelberg unveiled the Speedmaster CD 74 as a perfecting press at drupa 2004. This press enables high-quality perfecting printing with short changeover times between paper and board and between straight and perfecting modes. Barely six months later, the perfecting model is also available fully UV equipped. It features the tried-and-tested Heidelberg UV technology, which earned the "Optimized UV Printing" certificate for the CD 74 last year.

The Speedmaster CD 74 P-UV prints a whole array of materials – paper, card and foil or plastics – in a single pass and in thicknesses up to 0.8 millimeters. Examples include books, magazine covers, high-quality brochures, labels, concert tickets, blister packs and phone cards.