Service support and the supply of consumables and spare parts for presses already on the market will continue to be available in the usual Heidelberg quality. Heidelberg’s own imaging technology will be continued in its highly successful CTP Suprasetter family.

Andreas Forer, Head of Product Management Imaging Systems at Heidelberg, says that while Heidelberg has had much success with DI presses over the years, research done by the company has shown a trend towards modular offline CTP solutions combined with offset presses.

“Heidelberg’s DI technology enjoyed 15 highly successful years during which it was at the very forefront of development and saw over 2000 presses installed worldwide,” says Forer. “Users focusing on short colour runs will still be able to use their DI presses to deliver high-quality, cost-effective results. Heidelberg and its service network will continue to provide them with ongoing support they can rely on.”

The demise of the DI range will be taken over by the new Speedmaster SM 52 with the new Anicolor inking unit technology – the zoneless short inking unit – in conjunction with conventional printing plates and offset inks. This new technology, which Heidelberg unveiled at the end of February and will be on the market from early 2007, will deliver dramatic reductions in make-ready time and cut waste by up to 90 per cent.

It offers a new and attractive solution for cost effective production of short runs in offset quality.

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