Hans Jürgen Lind

Technical Service and Intelligence Manager Sappi Fine Paper Europe

Sapp

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen (HDM)

1 News – XL 106: HDM presenting on the drupa their new XL 106 press, a further development of the existing XL 105 which will be replaced by the XL 106. On their stand in Hall 2 they show a XL 106 8C with perfecting running a production speed of 18.000 sheets/h. Discussing with the printers and product marketing at the stand about the reason behind this development (why increasing press speed when commercial runs getting shorter?) the point of view of HDM was that the target group is the industrial printer who has long runs or is taking short web runs to sheet fed (partly in combination with a CutStar).

Picture showing a Speedmaster XL 106 8-color with perfecting (source HJL) The Speedmaster XL 106 is equipped with components that help to reduce makeready time and to increase productivity. HDM is still the only manufacturer who supplies databases for characteristic curves for different substrates, speeds, and inks ex factory. This avoids many manual corrections of the complete machine and the production speed is reached much faster. Compared to the XL 105 the main improvements are on sheet travel (already very good on the XL 105-P but due to 18.000 press speed in perfection mode necessary) and maximum paper size. The automatic wash-up devices for inking rollers, blanket and impression cylinder with optimized and individual washing programs reduce washing times (up to 30% reduction). This reduces washing of the blanket to 50 seconds in total (according HDM product data sheet). Autoplate XL (already available on the XL 105) provides fully automatic simultaneous plate changes for short makeready time. It seemed to me that HDM is focusing with the development of the XL 106 not only on the Commercial Printing end uses but also on the Consumer Packaging and Labeling. They have exceeded the maximum sheet size to 75x106 cm (print size remained with 74x105 cm (73x105 in perfecting) the same). Reason was according HDM the better sheet utilization in packaging. Also the wide offering of configurations (up to 17 print units) and the possibility to be customized to very specific requirements, for example in an L-P-L (Coating-Perfecting-Coating) and Duo configuration (flexo units before the printing units), a rotary die cutter or an inkjet device for marking individual repeats show that Heidelberg continuously move more into packaging end uses (as this seems to be their main strategic target since the development of the large format presses).

Hans Jürgen Lind

Technical Service and Intelligence Manager Sappi Fine Paper Europe

Sapp

2 Heidelberg CutStar I had a short meeting with Thomas Friedrich responsible for Product Marketing 70x100 and the product specialist for Heidelberg CutStar. Asking about the commercial development of the CutStar he said that they have 250-300 installations worldwide. The focus in Europe is UK, ESP and EE, mainly driven through a noteworthy price difference between sheet and reel quality (according HDM product information up to 15%). On special substrates like aluminum vaporized papers or special foils the savings can be even higher. HDM`s business model on selling the CutStar is strongly linked to the price difference as the calculate the ROI based on the potential consumption multiplied by the sheet/reel price difference.

Picture showing an actual version of the CutStar: (source HDM product catalogue)

Picture showing the material flow in a CutStar (source: HDM product catalogue) Friedrich sees the combination of the new XL 106 with perfecting and the CutStar as a great benefit for the customers who have either long commercial runs or are able to move shorter web runs to this press. I personally did wonder if the CutStar would run into difficulties when using web qualities with low humidity. Friedrich agreed (HDM recommends offset humidity) but they know from the practical experience that customers also use web qualities (e.g. reprints from web-jobs). Depending on the paper some problems like misregister and dusting (from cutting) can occur due low humidity. General Information: The Cutstar is built not by HDM but in cooperation with/by Bielomatic. It provides the possibility to run reels as well as sheets (in off position the CutStar is moved backwards to make use of the standard feeder of the press). It allows the processing of a wide array of substrates starting from 40gsm up to 300gsm.

3 HDM and Large Format presses Although it is still a comparably new development HDM did not exhibit their large format at drupa. Beside the delivery of a XL 145 (not even the double gripper delivery of the XL 162-P) no

Hans Jürgen Lind

Technical Service and Intelligence Manager Sappi Fine Paper Europe

Sapp

large format press could be seen at the stand. Below the line I have understood that the weight of the HDM Large Format presses is too high for the foundation of the floor. Bringing a press in would have meant extra cost for floor preparations, most likely something they were not willing to spend. The lack of Large Format presses on the HDM booth surprised me a bit as I was expecting HDM to capitalize also on drupa on the insolvency of manroland, trying to get old manroland large format customers to HDM and signaling that they have the latest technology (which is not totally true by the way; see also the following information on KBAs Rapida 145). In the Commercial Print area HDM was in the past years very successful especially at the internet printers Flyeralarm, United Print and Saxoprint. Flyeralarm bought some XL 145 quite recently (as far as I know 10 presses in three years time, due to shorter makeready vs. KBA/manroland). Flyeralarm, Saxoprint and United Print run a XL 162 8-color with perfecting.

Picture showing the delivery of a XL 145 on the HDM stand in Hall 2 (source HJL) What I doubt is that HDM is profitable on that business. If you take a look on the dimensions of the large format presses (picture above) you can see that the size of those presses is enormous. In addition the weight is much higher than comparable presses from manroland or KBA which requires in many cases a special foundation. According to calculations I have seen the manufacturing costs of those presses must be 12-20% higher than comparable presses of the competition (depending on quantities built). To my information (contacts to a production manager) Flyeralarm bought the recent XL 145 presses due to significantly shorter makeready time vs. KBA (with about 2.000 plates changed per day with 6 XL 145 4C in the plant in Kesselsdorf it matters!). As KBA introduced the DriveTronic Technology for the Rapida 145 on drupa (KBA delivered already to Druckhaus Mainfranken (part of Flyeralarm Group) there new Rapida 145 with Drivetronic Technology a fully automatic parallel plate change, see also 3.1 ) it remains to be seen whether Flyeralarm stays with HDM or moves back to KBA (there is no Autoplate XL on Heidelbergs large format). The in my eyes necessary further development/redesign of the large format at Heidelberg (no Autoplate XL, machine too heavy/expensive) would be a very costly exercise for Heidelberger (especially the redesign), money they do not have as they are still in a restructuring proses where they have to downsize themselves. Getting rid of hundreds/thousands of people is very costly and provides beside less personnel cost in the future no other benefit. To balance that out will be a challenge for Schreier and most likely one reason why there was a rumor on drupa that HDM will follow manroland into the insolvency soon after drupa.

Hans Jürgen Lind

Technical Service and Intelligence Manager Sappi Fine Paper Europe

Sapp

4 Speedmaster XL 75 with Anicolor inking unit technology HDM presented as a world premiere the Speedmaster XL 75 with Anicolor inking unit technology. Anicolor technology in the 35 x 50 cm format was first presented at drupa 2005 has been enjoying market success since 2006. According to HDM more than 1,000 printing units have been installed worldwide. With the new XL 75 Anicolor it is now extended to the 50 x 70 cm format. Compared to a press with conventional inking unit the benefits of Anicolor result in 90 % less paper waste, 50 % shorter makeready times and 50 % higher productivity. Thanks to extremely fast and stable inking-up, OK sheets are often achieved after just ten sheets. This makes the Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor a particularly good option for customers who are looking to achieve cost-efficient production of short and very short runs in the 50 x 70 cm format for commercial and packaging printing applications. It is also ideal for web-to-print applications with gang forms that require simple standardization and consistently high quality. The press will be offered as a straight-printing press with up to six inking units (with optional coating unit) and with a maximum speed of up to 15,000 sheets/h. Same as at Landa interested customers need to be patient as the press will not be available before the end of 2013. Different to Landa: the press on drupa was performing and showed good print results.

Picture showing a Speedmaster XL 75 Anicolor on drupa (source HDM press release) HDM tries to fight back against the growing competition on the digital side with the XL 75 Anicolor. Compared to KBA and maroland it is especially for HDM very important to be competitive (mainly against digital) in this segment as it was or maybe still is the backbone of their profitability subsidizing the large format and (so I have heard from HDM) partly also the XL 105 and 106 series.

5 Carbon Offsetting at HDM Most of you surely have seen the “CO2-Neutral”-signs on every HDM-press on drupa. According to HDM they are showing their environmental awareness on the fair and following the ongoing trend of Carbon offsetting and CO2 neutral print. I have met Moritz Lehmkuhl, Managing Director of Climate partner Germany at the KBA Stand asking him why HDM has done that and he gave the same answer. Together with Climate Partner HDM generated a complete footprint of their products allowing them to offer a CO2-neutral press.