Heidelberg Hosts Marquee Packaging Event

KENNESAW, Ga.—Heidelberg recently hosted more than 160 of the nation’s top packaging printers, including folding carton producers and commercial printers involved in packaging, at its first annual Packaging Inforum and Open House. Held at Heidelberg’s U.S. headquarters in Kennesaw, Ga., the event took place May 16 and 17 and gave attendees an exclusive look at Heidelberg’s latest solutions for the packaging market. The event was hosted in Heidelberg’s recently expanded Print Media Demonstration Center (PMDC), which is the largest demo center in North America.

Talking about Heidelberg’s PMDC and his experience at the packaging event, Don Sinkin, CEO, Disc Graphics said, “Heidelberg has the best demonstration center in the industry that I’ve seen. The opportunity to experience Heidelberg’s packaging offerings first-hand and tap into their expertise helps companies like ours make important business decisions and prepare for the future.”

Among the event highlights, Heidelberg unveiled the new 6,000-square-foot packaging addition to its now 40,000-square foot PMDC, debuted its Diana X 135 folding carton gluer for the first time in the North American market and previewed its drupa 2008 very-large-format (VLF) press offerings. Visitors experienced Heidelberg’s full complement of packaging solutions, from prepress to press to postpress offerings, many of which are housed in the new Packaging demo center. The event also included a series of educational sessions and interactive product demonstrations as well as a behind-the-scenes tour of Heidelberg’s facilities and systemserviceservice support call center.

“We were excited to host an esteemed group of printers at our PMDC facility and engage in important discussions about their business needs,” said Jim Dunn, president, Heidelberg USA. “Heidelberg is committed to continuing to invest in technologies, solutions, and education for the graphic arts industry to meet the growing needs of our customers.”

In the evening, visitors attended a dinner, where they heard from keynote speaker John Bernardo, manager of Sustainable Innovations, LLC, who discussed the importance of sustainable business operations in today’s packaging environment.

During the dinner, Corey Gustafson of JohnsByrne was awarded an endowment from Heidelberg. The endowment allowed for a $5,000 donation to be made in Gustafson’s name to Ferris State University, the graphic arts school of his choice. In addition to the donation from Heidelberg, JohnsByrne will make an additional donation to the scholarship. The combined donation will go to the Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF), which is housed under the same roof as PIA/GATF, and has coordinated the printing industry’s largest scholarship program since its inception in 1956. The donation in Gustafson’s name will be added to a larger fund that PGSF administers. This ensures that the donation will act as principal to ensure that the money is available year after year for distribution to qualifying students.

Heidelberg chose to give a scholarship endowment in the name of the raffle winner as part of its commitment to support graphics arts education and the print industry as a whole. Heidelberg is deeply committed to industry education with its Print Media Academy (PMA), its support of numerous graphic arts industry associations and organizations and the ongoing donation of equipment and funds to schools offering graphic arts curricula.

Heidelberg provides a broad range of packaging solutions, including folding carton gluing, die-cutting, embossing and hot foil stamping machines as well as image setters, printing presses, cutters, stitchers and workflow and consumables offerings. The event included demonstrations on Heidelberg’s Dymatrix 106 CSB high-performance, full-size format diecutter with stripping and blanking, Varimatrix 105 CS full-size format diecutter with stripping; KAMA ProCut 74 half-size format diecutter with foil stamping and ECO 105 entry-level folding carton gluer. Many of the latest Heidelberg packaging solutions can be seen in the new packaging area of Heidelberg’s PMDC in Kennesaw.

The Heidelberg Packaging Inforum and Open House concluded with a series of educational sessions hosted by Heidelberg’s Print Media Academy (PMA). Sessions focused on key topics such as folder automation, short-run perfect binding and ink jetting in-line with finishing. Heidelberg’s PMA offers year-round training classes for printers and has established a reputation as an unparalleled knowledge platform for managing printing challenges of the future. These unique training sessions introduce new printing applications and technologies, and provide information on marketing, sales and management strategies to specialists and managers who are looking to further develop their businesses.

In addition to folding carton producers and commercial printers, Heidelberg invited eight vendors from die cutting tooling, adhesive application systems and adhesive supplier companies to show their latest offerings at the packaging event. Vendors that participated in the event included Atlas Die, Carton Craft, WH Leary, HHS America, Capital Adhesives, C&A Corp. and National Starch.