Heidelberg in China, which was one of the first markets to be affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, has resumed production in Shanghai.
Heidelberg said China is the largest single market for the company and having been the first affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, the situation is gradually easing.
It confirmed that production in Shanghai is back to pre-crisis level, with all employees back at work.
With the top priority for Heidelberg being the health of its employees at all sites, the company’s partner and largest single shareholder Masterwork MK has created MK healthy Co., Ltd. and has entered into the production of disposable medical face masks, which includes the complete supply chain.
To date, the MK Group said it has provided 35,000 medical face masks for the Heidelberg Group, and another 40,000 will follow shortly, primarily for the use of service technicians on customer assignments.
Heidelberg CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer said the business has responded as quickly as possible to the difficult conditions caused by the global coronavirus crisis, and in providing its customers in the area of commercial, packaging and label printing with support at all levels.
“Especially in these challenging times, our digital interfaces to print shops worldwide are proving their worth in helping our customers in their daily operations,” he said.
“In these times of the coronavirus pandemic, our top priority is the health and safety of our employees and our customers. In terms of service, for example, we are relying even more heavily on our tried-and-tested and long-established Remote Service and the Heidelberg Assistant, taking care of everything we possibly can via digital telephony or video conferencing, and providing information via our customer databases.”
Hundsdörfer added that only recently, the first Speedmaster press was sold in Germany via a video conference, and that a “reliable supply of spare parts and consumables will be ensured” during the pandemic.
“The World Logistics Center at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site has around 100,000 parts in stock, which means that more than 96 per cent of the parts ordered are available when the order is received. Customers benefit from digital business models, such as subscription,” he said.
“We greatly value our customers, and, as their partner, are convinced that we will master this time together.”
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