Àngel Pérez-Vico
Head of Marketing and Communication for Heidelberg in Spain
In early October, Graphispag will once again bring together the leading companies in the graphic industry. One of them will be Heidelberg, which has been attending the Spanish trade fair for several years. Àngel Pérez-Vico, the Marketing and Communication Manager for Heidelberg in Spain, points to innovation and sustainability as two of the company’s key pillars and highlights the cutting-edge machinery and technology of a company set to celebrate its 175th anniversary in 2025.
– If you had to highlight three current trends in the graphic industry, what would they be?
The printing sector is currently facing a combination of three challenges, namely increasing cost pressures, a shortage of qualified workers and more demanding sustainability requirements. At the recent Drupa2024 fair, in response to these trends and under the motto Unfold your Potential, Heidelberg presented technical innovations in different systems that will be able to overcome these challenges facing the market.
Digitisation, artificial intelligence and automation in the new Peak Performance generation of the Speedmaster, Jetfire and the Masterwork line in Postpress Packaging are designed to support customers beneath a holistic concept, generating savings in terms of costs, resources and energy. There is also less need for the involvement of personnel in hard and repetitive tasks and productivity levels up to 20% higher than those of previous solutions are guaranteed.
– In March, Graphispag and the Spanish Association of Printing Suppliers (AESI) organised the first of the Impulso seminars at Heidelberg Spain’s facilities, focusing on innovation in printing and visual communication. How do you approach innovation at Heidelberg?
Heidelberg is addressing the challenges of the market by applying the results obtained by its R&D department located in Wiesloch, Germany. The new features of the Peak Performance generation of the Speedmaster, Flexo’s new Bordmaster for cardboard with its 95% occupancy ratio and the new range of Jetfire digital printers, geared towards the commercial sector, are just some examples.
Technologies such as the fully-automated Plate to Unit plate logistics of the Speedmaster XL 106 and the new P-Stacker robotic solutions for post-printing operations are two obvious cases of solutions that respond to trends.
At Heidelberg we strive to make jobs in the graphic industry more attractive, to become more efficient when it comes to managing our resources, to produce sustainably and, at the same time, to remain profitable. Sustainability in the production of printed material is one of the biggest trends around the world, as well as a major challenge for the sector. Modern printing companies must aspire to be even more sustainable by consuming less energy and fewer resources.
– Continuing with the theme of trends, how does Heidelberg Spain reflect its commitment to sustainability?
At Heidelberg’s headquarters in Wiesloch-Walldorf the focus is on the business potential of the entire Heidelberg product portfolio. The company has a global product range, including printing equipment and
software solutions for all the market segments, ranging from commercial, packaging and label printing to sheet-fed offset, digital and flexographic printing. We shouldn’t forget its products for small businesses and fully automated production lines for large companies. But what’s really important is that everything is developed and created with the clear intention of minimising or offsetting the environmental impact.
When it comes to sustainability, we clearly abide by the guidelines set out in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Heidelberg has made a great effort to ensure that it can serve its customers within this framework. One example is the latest Speedmaster XL106-6+L, which consumes almost 40% less energy per thousand sheets than the equivalent Speedmaster CD106-6+L dating back to 1990. This feat is the result of several features designed to minimise waste and resources, and we’re continuing to work on improving our sustainability brands.
– Last year Heidelberg Spain turned 60 and Heidelberg Druckmachinen will celebrate its 175th anniversary in 2025. What’s your overall assessment of Heidelberg’s track record and evolution?
We’re getting older, which means that we have a well-established position in the market and we enjoy a certain degree of trust, at least among one part of the graphic industry. Getting older for us is the relationship in time between recognition, experience and market trust. Since 1963, Hartmann, now Heidelberg Spain, has developed from a family-run business selling self-manufactured equipment, at a time when importing German equipment was difficult, into a firm that forms part of the Heidelberg group, a German multinational. Nowadays, at our headquarters in Cornellá, we target the domestic graphic market with a broad portfolio of equipment, software and services under the umbrella of Heidelberg Druckmachinen.
Moreover, Heidelberg will celebrate its 175th anniversary next year. We can’t say whether we’ve evolved with the market or whether the market, as it’s currently understood, is partly a result of the technologies and solutions we’ve been presenting over the last 175 years. History can be read through its icons and we’re proud of our Minerva, our GTO and our Speedmaster XL106. We’re proud to belong to this magnificent market and feel that we receive the trust and support of the graphic industry.
– What role does the Spanish subsidiary currently play? Would you highlight any distinctive features?
Our structure and work philosophy are fully integrated into the Heidelberg group. However, we should point out that, at this time, at a sectoral level, we’re the largest structure in the Spanish graphic market in terms of coverage, and this is logically reflected in a greater capacity to respond to and serve the market.
Our technicians receive direct training, information and refresher courses at the head office and we provide predictive tools, such as the Heidelberg Customer Portal, and access to diagnostic programs and systems that connect the equipment to the remote support of the Heidelberg network. The Heidelberg Spain Technical Service currently employs over 30 technicians and instructors and has back office coverage, all supported by a ticketing platform for incidents, an OpenService and an e-commerce platform with over 3,000 references. Our goal is to improve and attempt to meet the needs of our customers.
– Graphispag 2024 expects to bring together over 100 exhibiting companies and 11,000 professional visitors. Beyond the presentation of your new products, what do you expect to find and take away from the fair?
As Ignacio Baquero, the head of the offset line, indicates, Graphispag excels as a leading national exhibition venue and it’s therefore the ideal place to interact with the rest of the market. This platform provides us with a chance to share experiences, do networking and generate contacts. Attending Graphispag can be summed up as our commitment to the industry, as a result of which it entails active participation.
However, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to calculate the return with respect to the cost of participating in a sectoral fair such as Graphispag. On this occasion we had no doubts about our attendance, but, looking to the future, Fira de Barcelona, the suppliers and the different players in the domestic graphic industry must be able to organise the trade fair calendar in a logical manner, with concentration taking precedence over dispersion. The market is becoming increasingly polarised and it requires an effort in terms of the equalising function of the fair venue. See you at Graphispag!
Cristina Benavides, Graphispag contributor
