Vels Jensen (pictured) claimed the company was focusing more on ‘brainware’ rather than hardware at this year’s show, though their display still features products such as the Speedmaster XL 75 press and the Eurobind 1300 perfect binder.

The company expects to deliver $300,000 worth of sales an hour at PacPrint 09, though this is noticably down form the $600,000 an hour they were able to reap at the last PacPrint.

Vels Jensen believes that printers who focus on getting more out of their business will be the ones best placed to survive the current economic downturn.

This mindset has led to a display which focuses heavily on customer education and embracing “lean manufacturing principles”.

The company is also attempting to practise what it preaches by focusing itself on a “3S business”: supplies, service and spare parts.

“If you don’t have good income from equipment, you have to look at other services,” Vels Jensen said of Heidelberg’s fortunes in the GFC.

The company is also using the event to launch its Heidelberg Advantage Program, a rewards program aimed at driving customers towards its Online Shop.

Vels Jensen acknowledged that rewards programs were hardly a new idea, but that the program yielded a 40 per cent increase in business when the concept was first tested at Heidelberg Canada.

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