Heidelberg took the wraps off its new Stahlfolder TH 56/66 models for automated end-to-end production in digital printing in a world first at Hunkeler Innovationdays 2025.
The Stahlfolder TH 56/66 Fireline for nearline postpress operations in digital printing enables highly automated processing of digitally printed sheets in a single operation, all the way through to the finished cut and folded print product.
Cutting, creasing, and folding all take place in just one pass.
The Stahlfolder TH 56/66 Fireline is also fully integrated into the Prinect workflow. As a result, the system can be preset automatically based on the job parameters from Prinect and with no operator intervention.
The standard programs stored in the system cover a wide range of different end products. The possibilities with the Jetfire 50 include A3 and A4 posters trimmed on all four sides for full-bleed motifs, four-page pamphlets (A4 portrait plus A5 portrait and landscape), and eight-page A6 products with concertina, parallel, or letter fold.
To minimise the number of system changeovers, Prinect groups similar orders into batches, and these jobs are then completed one after the other on the Jetfire 50 and the Stahlfolder TH 56/66 Fireline.
The company also showcased its digital ecosystem for end-to-end production based on the new Jetfire 50 at Hunkeler Innovationdays. The Jetfire 50 is based on inkjet technology from Heidelberg’s cooperation partner Canon and marks its expansion into industrial digital commercial printing.
“In the industrial printing context, efficient and highly automated postpress operations are vital if production departments are to process a large number of highly diverse orders efficiently and ensure the profitability of digital print production. That makes our new Fireline postpress solution a key addition to the Heidelberg digital ecosystem, taking us a big step closer to end-to-end print production,” Heidelberg chief technology and sales officer Dr. David Schmedding said.
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