Heidelberg gives its new Speedmaster CX 104 a world premiere at China Print

Heidelberg said, the new 104 sheetfed format press offers commercial, packaging, and label printing customers access to benefit from the system’s free scalability – which extends all the way through to Push to Stop functionality – and also from tailored configurations with as many as 15 printing/coating units. “This is a machine with eight printing units and then followed by four additional units or two coating units and two intermediate dryers and in the second unit, top-mounted FoilStar system for inline cold foil applications,” said the Heidelberg representative.

During the presentation, the Heidelberg representative informed that its first 15 machines have already been booked. “We are very happy to see that more than 20% of our order intake are with eight units or more.”

“Heidelberg is investing in the industry’s future. With the new, intelligent Speedmaster CX 104, we’re making our customers and Heidelberg itself far more competitive,” says CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer. “We’ve developed the press for a broad cross-section of customers and a wide range of applications to target the vast market potential. With our new universal press in the 70 x 100 format, Heidelberg is making state-of-the-art sheetfed offset technology available to a large number of print shops worldwide,” he adds.

The Speedmaster CX 104 boasts a new, ergonomic design. In addition, it offers a completely new operating philosophy (Heidelberg UX), providing support for operators at the Prinect Press Center XL 3 control station and at the press itself. The patented Intellistart 3 system automatically determines the makeready processes required for the jobs to be produced. In addition, several assistance systems are based on artificial intelligence, such as Wash Assistant and Color Assistant Pro.

Anilox roller change: The new coating unit on Speedmaster SX 104

The Speedmaster CX 104 is equipped with a new coating unit, based on the Heidelberg XL technology, which the company claimed, has a 30% lower roller weight (anilox), making the changeover process fast, a time saving of up to 75% based on a one-person operation. “The new coating blanket cylinder will make changing coating forms easier and up to 25% faster,” the representative said.

The inking/dampening on the new Speedmaster CX 104 allows additional functions, especially in UV printing. “For example, integrated ink mist extraction cuts pressroom emissions, in particular at high printing speeds. An automatic ink agitator ensures high printing quality by keeping the viscosity of the UV ink constant. An additional washup solution supply is optionally available for mixed operation with conventional and UV inks,” the representative explained.

Series production of the Speedmaster CX 104 has already started, and anyone anywhere in the world who is interested in ordering the new press can do so,” said Florian Franken, the Heidelberg product manager responsible for the Speedmaster CX 104. “A number of European pilot customers in the various market segments are already working successfully with our new solution and are reporting productivity gains of up to 20%, which exceeds even our own expectations,” he added.