Heidelberg’s large Hall 1 presence at drupa appears to have paid dividends for the German press manufacturer, which reports it signed close to 2,000 orders from over 80 countries during the show. These numbers equate to the ordering of around 550 sheetfed offset press units.
“The level of incoming orders during the show indicates that confidence within the industry in returning. The investment backlog is continuing to unwind in many parts of the world,” stated Bernhard Schreier, Heidelberg CEO, who continued to say that the company’s volume of orders at the show is equivalent to around half of the production of printing units over the past financial year.
Heidelberg received its most press orders from Germany, while Chinese orders came in second and, interestingly, the United States was third in press orders during the show, indicating that a positive investment mindset may be returning to that struggling print economy.
“Particularly the development in countries such as the U.S. and Japan fills us with optimism and exceeds our expectations,” said Schreier.
After a couple of tough years, Heidelberg made sure its presence was felt at drupa by displaying what the company classifies as over 60 innovations within its trade show hall, including around 20 completely new products and solutions.
The new Speedmaster SX press platform introduced at drupa accounts for around 250 press units sold during drupa. The Speedmaster SX models combine the technology of the Speedmaster XL class, launched at drupa 2008, with the longer-running platform of the Speedmaster SM series. (To date, Heidelberg has sold over 40,000 printing units for the medium-format Speedmaster SM 74.)
Heidelberg states that its new flagship press, the Speedmaster XL 106 (41-inch format), turned out to be its most sold machine during drupa. The company also notes that it signed “sizeable contracts’ for the large-format Speedmaster XL 145 and Speedmaster XL 162 presses.
While much of the media attention around drupa has focused on prototype machines that are still years away from market readiness, such as Landa’s nanographic press technology and several new cut-sheet inkjet concepts, Heidelberg’s large offset presence at the trade show, with working technology, appears to have provided the press maker with a positive start to its current fiscal year.
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