Complete Provider, The

Print Action, Nov 2004

"I would say with ink-key settings, that Heidelberg has been doing this pretty consistently since about 1997 or 1998. Our customers use this technology pretty reliably," says Richard Armstrong, describing the initial prepress to press integration provided by CIP3. "A pretty large percentage of them use it on the larger machines, because our software resides in their prepress department. It doesn't have to be Heidelberg software."

In fact, Armstrong estimates that eight or nine out of every 10 printers using Heidelberg 40-inch presses are also using CIP3 to preset ink settings, and that this number likely carries over to users of its 74 line of presses. "With the 52 [press line] it might be a lower ratio, because you have customers running smaller jobs, but I would say about 80 or 90 per cent of our customers utilize this technology."

As printers using half-size presses continue to deal with shorter runs, the concept of connecting software-based CIM between prepress and the pressroom is becoming more enticing. Armstrong believes Heidelberg's Prinect platform, which encompasses all of the JDF-based software it spreads out from prepress to postpress, is the most exciting technology that Heidelberg can offer. Printers within this group are being shown how to use modules of this platform to purposely - and gradually - build a CIM strategy.

"It's not that customers have to go out and buy Management Information Systems that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars," says Armstrong. "That is really not what we are talking about. Our Prinect portfolio is really made up of the software that runs on each individual piece of equipment. If printers build their company correctly, it will all interconnect and snap together."

Heidelberg sits in a unique position as a press manufacturer because it owns the largest market share of presses in the world and it also has the widest range of vertical printing products. Each new piece of its Polar finishing equipment is now JDF-enabled through Prinect, which affords Heidelberg the opportunity to offer a much different idea of process integration. Armstrong reaffirms this position, by saying, "I think that if you are just putting sheets through your machine that it is a very competitive marketplace out there."

Because of the competitiveness in the marketplace, many printers who have paid off their presses are reluctant to reinvest in more automated press technology, because ultimately they will face more monthly payments. To this end, Heidelberg can retrofit some of its presses built between the years 1995 and 2000 with a light version of its CP 2000 press console. This system, first introduced in the year 2000 helps drives its Prinect platform. In fact, the company will often install a new CP 2000 console and then retrofit an older press within the same company, if the second press stays, which is becoming less common.

"[Printers] fool themselves into feeling they are saving money because they haven't spent half-a-million or a million dollars for a piece of equipment," says Armstrong. "What they don't realize is that they may have to finance a new piece of equipment but the financing of the equipment is usually covered by the increase in productivity and the reduced labour costs." Of course, the ultimate cost of holding out with a beyond-retrofit press is that market share can be quickly eroded by a more productive printer.

To help printers understand the potential of installing new press technology, Heidelberg has developed an innovative simulation program. "It actually draws a picture of your shop and then, once the history of all of the jobs are in there, you can run six months of production data through the software. It only takes two hours to simulate it and you see your productivity statistics," explains Armstrong. "Once you have the model set up, you can evaluate different alternatives to find out how they would impact your operation. What if I put in one 10-colour instead of those two sixes, or if I changed my 40-inches into two 29s."