More than 200 customers from the United States, Canada and Mexico visited Heidelberg’s North American headquarters in Kennesaw, GA, USA for the recently completed event series, “Everything is Connected.” The day-long event focused on the digital transformation of the industry and its impact on printers’ overall equipment effectiveness.

The event kicked off with an insightful presentation on the impacts digitalization has on print shops with an overview of Heidelberg’s offerings, including “Push to Stop” technology, Lifecycle Solutions powered by Heidelberg Assistant, Heidelberg Subscription, and Prinect Production Manager.

According to Felix Mueller, president of Heidelberg Americas, “Our digital solutions give our customers the ability to control and optimize themselves intelligently and autonomously— allowing them time to run their business instead of getting bogged down with the day-to-day issues.”

Throughout the day, customers participated in a complete “Push to Stop” demonstration, listened to presentations on Heidelberg’s newest digital technologies and business models, and had the opportunity to demo all equipment at Print Media Center Atlanta, which includes the new Speedmaster CS 92-5+L with LED, Versafire EV and EP, and full Prinect prepress, postpress and packaging products.

"The event was time very well spent. I oversee all aspects of production at our plant, and my time is at a premium. By providing relevant information about technological advances, efficient processes, and new equipment demonstrations during this professional, comprehensive open house, Heidelberg has once again proven themselves to be the leader in the industry,” says Julia Farmer, vice president of operations at Intellicor Communications. “Their innovative equipment is wonderful, and their commitment to customer service is outstanding. I thoroughly enjoyed the event and the knowledge gained will serve me well as I make decisions for my team and our company."

One of the highlights of the event was a walk-through of the entire commercial production flow, starting with the Prinect workflow, followed by the Speedmaster XL 106-6+L with UV, LE UV, and LED and the Stahlfolder TH 82-P, all driven by “Push to Stop” technology.

With “Push to Stop” technology, jobs are autonomously changed over without operator intervention and will continue to print or fold until the operator interrupts it on their Speedmaster or Stahlfolder.

To conclude the demonstration, customers received a full production data report from Prinect Analyze Point. Processing operating data from Prinect, Analyze Point provides a comprehensive overview of current job production and long-term production in clear graphics and numbers.

“The Prinect Analyze Point uses data that is automatically generated from the setup of jobs from Prinect to the completion of production on our Heidelberg equipment. Production managers and owners are both able to use this data to evaluate their productivity to ensure that their business is optimized to help maximize their efficiency and output,” says Errol Moebius, director of Print Media Center Atlanta at Heidelberg.

Deep-dive sessions were held to discuss Heidelberg’s newest digital technologies and business models including Heidelberg Lifecycle Solutions powered by Heidelberg Assistant, Heidelberg Subscription, and Prinect Production Manager.

With Lifecycle Solutions, Heidelberg combines consumables with digital and technical services in order to become a partner in productivity for their customers. This intelligent combination of products and services helps customers boost their profits and extend the lifecycle of their equipment. Powered by Heidelberg Assistant, an online portal, customers can now identify and minimize potential production interruptions thanks to the help of intelligent performance management and predictive monitoring.