Heidelberg ignites digital printing with Fire

German offset manufacturing giant, Heidelberg, gave machine intelligence a new concept – Smart print shop, during a pre-Drupa event held at the HQ in Germany. The Smart print shop will permit process optimisation and increase overall performance by integrating its digital and offset printing offerings, with the Prinect Press Centre donning the role of digital interface in the workflow.

22 Feb 2016 | By PrintWeek India

But the big announcement was the showing of the new B1 format inkjet printing machine, as Heidelberg Primefire 106 at its R&D facility in Wiesloch-Walldorf, which will be demonstrated at Drupa 2016.
 
The Heidelberg Primefire 106 will be available as a single-sided seven-colour sheetfed press, and will challenge the other contender in the B1 inkjet sheetfed arena, Benny Landa’s nano technology, which was shown at Drupa 2012, little of which has been in the news since.
 
The Primefire 106 is a product developed jointly by Fujifilm and Heidelberg. The digital kit uses Heidelberg Speedmaster 106 as the base for the machine and incorporates Fujifilm Dimatix’s Samba MEMS printhead technology. The company claimed that Fujifilm’s water-based pigment ink with Rapic technology for high-definition imaging will meet food packaging safety regulations.
 
“With the world premiere of the Heldelberg Primefire 106, we have reached another milestone in our digital strategy: achieving success in working with partners to bring systems to the market within the shortest time,” said Stephan Plenz, a member of the management board for Heidelberg equipment. He added, “The system is designed to enable printers to develop new applications from a fully digital based system for customisation, VDP and targeted marketing.”
 
Stephan Plenz - with a print taken on the B1 inkjet sheet press - Primefire 106
 
The Primefire joins the restructuring of Heidelberg’s digital printing portfolio. The Linoprint CP/CV will now be Heidelberg Versafire, the Gallus DCS 340 will become Gallus Labelfire 340, the Jetmaster Dimension 250/1000 will become the Heidelberg Omnifire 250/1000.
 
“The name ‘Fire' for our digital printing portfolio stands for performance, dynamism and growth – and also for digitally transmitting data and ink onto different surfaces,” said Jason Oliver, head of the digital division at Heidelberg.
 

Jason Oliver: "We have one of the highest performance digital offerings"
 
Heidelberg has sold over 1000 Versafire presses worldwide. “We want to send a clear message to our customers that we have one of the highest performance digital printing offerings in our industry,” said Oliver.
 
Though there was no announcement of launch of any new presses at the event, Heidelberg did announce the new Anicolor 2 for the Speedmaster XL 75 and greater machine intelligence to its new Speedmaster generation, which the company said will optimise the process of dealing with the increasingly shorter production runs and frequent order changes involving different materials.
 
Heidelberg also focussed on its Systemservice offerings - the Remote Services and Performance Plus. "These services are not just for one machine or system, but for the entire print shop - a new integrated approach where we don't just advise customers but also guide and support them during implementation," said Harald Weimer, a member of the management board for Heidelberg services and consumables.
 

Harald Weimer: "Providing service with an integrated approach"