Heidelberg Uses Qingpu Site to Open Up New Markets in China

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—July 18, 2012—The Qingpu site of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) near Shanghai has developed according to plan and established an excellent position on the Chinese market. The company now assembles standard offset presses and folding machines here on a production area of around 45,000 m2 (approximately 484,000 square feet). Heidelberg is thus unlocking the considerable potential of the Chinese market, which is now the company's largest single market. Over 750 of the four-color Speedmaster SM 52, the Speedmaster SM 74-4 with high-pile delivery presses and the Speedmaster CD 102 have been supplied since the site was established in Qingpu in 2005.

The 100th Speedmaster CD 102 press was delivered to a Chinese customer in January this year. More than 700 locally produced KHC 66 and 78 folding machines have also been installed at Chinese print shops. Qingpu is also increasingly exporting standard presses in the 35x50" and 50x70 cm (13.78x19.69" and 19.69x27.56") formats to the Asia Pacific growth regions and South Africa. The export rate here is around ten percent and is continuing to expand. Numerous Speedmaster SM 74-4 presses with high-pile delivery and SM 52-4 presses have been sold to Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. Customers rate the presses highly thanks to their excellent price-performance ratio, reliable productivity and quality, and comprehensive range of services.

"Every third machine sold by Heidelberg in China now comes from our production facilities in Qingpu. With the growth in exporting, we'll continue to unlock the high potential on the emerging markets," states Stephan Plenz, member of the Management Board responsible for Heidelberg Equipment.

The Qingpu site is an integral part of the Heidelberg network comprising the Wiesloch-Walldorf, Amstetten, Brandenburg, Leipzig, and Ludwigsburg sites in Germany and Nové Mesto in Slovakia. This ensures that, even with a growing proportion of local suppliers, all processes and quality standards satisfy the global standards laid down by Heidelberg. Heidelberg is the only press producer in Europe and Japan that operates its own production facilities in China. Almost 500 staff are now employed at the site, which currently manufactures around 1,000 printing units a year across all series.

Already more than 100 Speedmaster CD 102 four-color presses sold in China
The Speedmaster CD 102 is a bestseller on the Chinese market and Heidelberg has already sold more than 100 presses since production started in Qingpu in 2010. A Speedmaster CD 102 four-color press recently started production at Xuriyuan Printing House, even though managing director Wang Zhen had initially questioned the quality of a press produced in China. Testing on a challenging print job convinced him otherwise and the "Chinese" press now prints with the same flexibility and stability as the Speedmaster CD 102 imported from Germany that is also housed in the pressroom. Xuriyuan is a medium-sized print shop with around 100 employees that offers its customers comprehensive solutions in commercial and packaging printing. All in all, the company works with three presses of various formats produced at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site.

Speedmaster SM 52 and SM 74 standard presses also in demand in the Asia Pacific region
Heidelberg has already exported numerous Speedmaster SM 52 and SM 74 standard presses from Qingpu to customers in the Asia Pacific region.

The first Speedmaster SM 52-4 produced in China, which was installed in Thailand, is used for the cost-efficient printing of short runs at Golden Medal Printing, which actually is a digital print company. Here, offset and digital printing complement each other perfectly. Following intensive consultations, Roongsiri Publishing took the step to becoming a top-quality print shop. The company purchased a Suprasetter A 105 last year, and this has now been followed by investment in a Speedmaster SM 74-4 with high-pile delivery from China (the first in this series in Thailand), a Polar 115 XC cutter, and Prinect Pressroom Manager.

Bahagia Press, the leading company on the Borneo market in Malaysia, has opted for a Speedmaster SM 74-4 with high-pile delivery from Heidelberg owing to its superior quality and reliability, thus replacing a competitor's press. The Malaysian Prime Minister Department has invested in a complete solution that comprises a Speedmaster SM 74-4 with high-pile delivery and a Suprasetter. For Malaysia-based Tinggi Press, the Speedmaster SM 74-4 was its first new press—the print shop previously used only remarketed equipment.

Last year, Japanese print shop Maruri Printing from Gifu Prefecture also installed a Speedmaster SM 74 with high-pile delivery produced in China. The print shop, founded in 1946, values this press just as much as the Speedmaster SM 102 perfector, Speedmaster SM 52, and Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor already housed in the pressroom. The portfolio covers traditional advertising materials and web-to-print applications.

Source: Heidelberg.