Six weeks after Heidelberg scrapped its stitching and binder lines, Australian customers still have no idea how they will be affected and who will service their discontinued products.
Last month the press giant announced it was pulling out of finishing as it saw no great future in it, saving €30m a year in the process, retaining only the Stahlfolder folding line, shutting down its Leipzig factory and axing 650 jobs.
Heidelberg announced Swiss finishing manufacturer Müller Martini will take over the servicing of the discontinued products, but no one knows if this agreement extends to Australia and its customers, which number about 70 here.
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Heidelberg Australia managing director Richard Timson has spent the past month and a half seeking clarification from Germany, but after numerous meetings is just as in the dark as his customers.
Timson says it appears Germany will be making servicing decisions market by market, starting with the biggest and working their way down to smaller ones like Australia.
He says there have been high-level talks but there is no indication of when a decision on Australia will be reached, and that it is largely dependent on Müller Martini.
“The issue is getting traction but needs action,” he says.
Timson says there is a possibility Heidelberg will continue looking after Australian finishing customers.
“Customers want things to stay the same and I don’t think Müller Martini has the infrastructure here to service them,” he says.
“Whatever happens, if we need to help we will because we can’t have our customers left in the lurch.”
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Heidelberg will no longer manufacture saddlestitchers or perfect binders, and much of its packaging finishing lines such as Diana will now be manufactured in China. It will continue to supply Polar guillotines.
The company will distribute packaging finishing from Chinese manufacturer Masterwork Machinery, claiming it will provide ‘improved competitiveness’.
Heidelberg chief executive Gerold Linzbach says in-house production at its sites in Germany is no longer competitive under ‘the new market conditions’.
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