The Heidelberg Speedmaster XL106-8-P+LX3 InkStar
Continued success with Heidelberg With a string of 10 presses sold in the last 12 months, Heidelberg has provided its customers with the latest technologies and smarts suited for both printing and packaging
W
ith growth in the labels and packaging space, Heidelberg has noticed more and more customers pivoting into the packaging area, to diversify their play. Smaller steps into packaging, because of its ever-growing and stronger than ever nature, has now become a norm within print. However, the commercial side, although going reasonably strong and almost back to pre-COVID levels, was hit harder by the effects of COVID-19 as a result of sectors such as events downsizing or shutting down. But the needs of the packaging world have boomed and continues to grow at a great rate – which is why Heidelberg has increased its efforts in this space. Heidelberg Australia and New Zealand managing director Savas Mystakidis said, “Labels and packaging has always been on a growth trajectory, but this has only accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic as we are in unprecedented times. “This part of the Heidelberg business is going very well and the customer base is very strong. We’re also selling a lot of equipment in this space, and support to go with that.”
14 | AUSTRALIAN PRINTER JULY 2021
Heidelberg Australia and New Zealand national sales manager Dierk Wissmann said the segments within packaging that saw the greatest growth were narrow-web and traditional sheetfed packaging. “For example, the panic buying in supermarkets and need for sanitising products during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the need for more packaging and labels for these products. But there are also differences within the segment as some industries, such as the wine industry, saw slower growth as opposed to others,” he said. According to Mystakidis, many commercial and packaging customers who had not invested in offset for some time are now finding themselves in need of more machinery to not only add on to their portfolios, but also to stay up to date with technology. In the last 12 months, even through COVID-19, Heidelberg Australia and New Zealand has sold 10 offset presses in the region, all with considerable configurations in the larger A1 and A2 space and many with coating devices. They included several Speedmaster XL 106, Speedmaster XL 75, Speedmaster
CX 102 and the newly released CX 104, in addition to a Heidelberg Gallus Labelfire hybrid press, another Gallus narrow-web offset machine and an MK die-cutter. Polar guillotines, Stahl folders and Suprasetter CTP devices are always popular and continue to be in demand, with constant sales throughout the year. “In amongst these sales, the split between commercial and packaging print shops is fairly even,” Mystakidis said. “What is interesting is that many of the mentioned machine sales will be used in addition to existing equipment. “Three machines are installed and up and running, with a fourth machine currently in the middle of its installation. “The remaining six presses are all arriving into the region later this year and in early 2022, with the installations all evenly spread out around New Zealand, Queensland, Victoria, WA and NSW. “In recent years, we have seen many customers replacing one or two of their old machines with a newer one because the automation of a newer model would do the work of two older machines.”
SPRINTER.COM.AU