system is connecting up the industry

The age of the standalone press is coming to an end as printers realise the value of having it linked up via the internet to an engineer able to help with any problems. These days a remote watching brief is part of the service when you buy a press from Heidelberg and Tony van Broekhuizen, general manager customer support, says, “It’s all part of systemservice.”

There came a time when the IT industry realised that the network itself had become the computer and that a standalone box, unhooked and inaccessible, was little more than an electronic adding machine. This was around the time the internet began changing everyone’s expectations about how we communicate, work, and play. Since then it is an accelerating trend with more activities becoming a part of the switched-on universe until we now have a sufficient critical mass of people, computers and machines wired in for the Network Age to be a reality.

In printing the move has been slower but it’s gathering momentum. Printing presses are huge structures of heavy metal, seemingly isolated islands in the stream, but even they are being drawn into the networked world. No longer a simple mechanical device, the average press is a miracle of electronics and is an essential part of the CIP4 data-driven workflow that regulates printing jobs in factories from start to out-the-door finish. Thanks to high-speed networks, printing managers have access to the vital statistics of every machine in the press hall and now thanks to remote monitoring over the internet, printing engineers from suppliers can assist in essential maintenance and be on hand instantly in the event of a breakdown.

According to Tony van Broekhuizen, general manager customer support, Heidelberg Australia and NZ (HAN) the concept of web-based service support has come of age since the company launched systemservice at this year’s PacPrint. “Presses are now IT –literate equipment and being linked to the systemservice centralized call centre via the web, allows the client to get faster help if ever anything goes wrong,” he said.

Web based remote internet connection is available for all new Heidelberg Speedmaster presses and can be retrofitted to machines, depending on software levels, up to four years old. Since its launch here over 60 per cent of new presses installed, have been wired in and, given the enthusiastic reception of the service, van Broekhuizen is aiming at making that 100 per cent inside two years. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the uptake. It is both the smaller printers as well as the large ones that are taking it up,” he said.

At first he had concerns about customers allowing links into their site, but that has not proved to be an issue. The link is through the printer’s own protected network, so there are no security issues, while the printer has to be physically present at the press to switch the connection on, eliminating any unauthorised linkage. Once live, the link allows engineers to inspect the vital functions of a press that has stopped, or monitor one that has a problem and in many cases to suggest remedial action without ever going on site. Even if the fault does require a visit from a service engineer, he will more than likely be able to bring the required spare part along with him, thanks to inspecting the press over the network.

Getting service into the system

Remote inspection and monitoring of equipment – platesetters have long been able to hook in for maintenance monitoring – is only one aspect of Heidelberg’s systemservice, the new customer support function that van Broekhuizen is charged with making an integral part of the company’s offerings. “ We’re not trying to make fortunes but a service organization must be more than just sales support – it must at least cover its costs if it is to provide high levels of ongoing support to customers,” he said. "We cannot stand still and constantly need to invest money in improving the services HAN offers its clients, so they in turn, can become more profitable.”

van Broekhuizen came to HAN from South Africa almost three years ago, where he was in charge of the service organization under Andy Vels Jensen, ceo of HAN. It was a different market there with service a prized product as Africa surged out of years of under-development with a pell-mell rush to install presses. Here it is a more mature market where printers have long made their own ad hoc arrangements to service the machines.

That may have been OK before but with longer, faster, highly automated machines now powering production facilities that are reliant on fewer presses, machine redundancy is no longer a luxury today’s volume producers can afford. Having a press standing idle has become a costly exercise for clients. For freelance press engineers to keep up to speed with the increasingly sophisticated control systems without official company support is also becoming ever more challenging. HAN invests on average 230 man weeks per year in the training of their engineers. It has dawned on the industry that, as it is with other manufacturing industries, paying millions for a machine and depending on only breakdown service is not the way to run a professional operation. This is where systemservice comes into its own by offering Service Agreements (PSA) to extend the 12-month warranty that comes with every new press.

Prevention is better than cure

Since their introduction, Support Contracts have proven popular with buyers, with the majority opting for more than the basic warranty contract. A contract spells out the maintenance costs for a press per year, allowing greater accuracy in pricing the print it produces. By locking in scheduled preventative maintenance visits on a per million impressions basis – in the same way your motor car gets a service after so many kilometres – companies benefit by safeguarding from unexpected breakdowns in the middle of important jobs.

At a time when average new presses produce easily 40-50 million impressions per year, and considering the trend of printers to go from three or four plus presses to relying on maybe one or two highly productive presses, the need for Support Agreeemnts becomes readily apparent. “It’s good for the customer in that it lets him plan downtime and organise his personnel. It’s good for us because we also can schedule our engineers onto preventative duties rather than fire fight continual breakdowns due to poor in-house maintenance practices,” said van Broekhuizen.

Heidelberg customers not on Support Contracts will still be able to access prompt support in the case of breakdowns. While van Broekhuizen aims to get a four-hour average response and usually achieves better, he cannot guarantee it as it depends on the work load of his engineers and the time of the breakdown. To his mind prevention is better than cure, which is why he strongly advocates Support Agreements

Around 69 per cent, or 172 people, of HAN’s total complement are involved in providing systemservice; admin and warehouse people, trained operators manning the centralized call centres, engineers out on the road, all supported by a comprehensive parts distribution out of nine branch offices. This is by far the largest support staff of any supplier and underlines – and contributes to – Heidelberg’s continuing market dominance in sheetfed presses and the associated prepress and post press solution.



Here we go round the value chain

There is more to systemservice than Support Contacts, breakdown service and internet diagnosis.
The brand encapsulates the concept of the Value Chain, a range of service products that Heidelberg is promoting to its customers. Focused on aligning the company closer with its customers, the value chain offers expert skill and advice on every aspect of a modern printing company’s needs. It may be part of the investment phase when advice is sought on the planning and layout of a brand new press hall to accommodate a large press, or training of staff to operate the new equipment. As part of ongoing production, customers can opt for Assure Production utilising Heidelberg’s expertise in print colour management and quality evidence testing, along with routine maintenance and Prinect process integration.

Then when it comes time to move up and move on, systemservice assists in relocation, de-installation of the presses, refurbishment and quality evidence testing to make sure customers get a recognised pathway into the future. “This is not just a dreams,” says van Broekhuizen. “These are real services, unique selling points based on what our customers want. It’s a question of being proactive instead of reactive.”

It is early days for systemservice and the full benefits of web-based remote service will only be fully recognised as the number of customer connected machines increases. The larger the critical mass, the more capable Heidelberg will be to fulfil its requirements. Already the company is initiating a formal apprenticeship scheme next April to train and invest in engineers for the future, supplementing its own highly skilled workforce in mechanical and electrical skills. It will add to HAN’s capability and reinforce the high-tech skills required for the industry to deal confidently with the demands of the future.