Heidelberg welcomed more than 200 international guests from the printing industry to SHIFT 2025 – a new two-day event combining expert keynote presentations with interactive, hands-on workshops.
The event focused on the pressing challenges facing the industry, including rising costs, growing competitive pressures, and increasing difficulty in recruiting skilled personnel.
Another key issue discussed was the structural shift in order volumes. Where printing companies once relied on large-volume jobs, they must now fulfil a growing number of smaller orders – a model that is difficult to manage profitably with traditional workflows.
To address this, industry leaders at SHIFT 2025 explored the transformative potential of end-to-end digitisation, process automation, and robotics. These technologies are seen as critical to reducing manual intervention and ensuring operational efficiency in a rapidly evolving market.
Practical examples provide solutions
The first day focused on practical applications from various companies. One of the six speakers was Rob Cross, co-managing director of Micropress Printers Ltd. (Reydon, England).
He described how the company has accelerated its processes and alleviated the shortage of personnel thanks to automation, robotics, and AI. Micropress produces on a Speedmaster XL 106 with Plate to Unit and on several digital printing systems.
All processes are controlled via Prinect. At the folding machines, robots, including a StackStar P from Heidelberg, place the packages on pallets. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) move the pallets between the individual machines.
Bauer Packaging, Gemany, specialises in label printing and packaging production. The company has largely digitised its production.
Using a combination of Prinect Production from Heidelberg and Symphony from Ctrl-s, the numerous label orders are bundled, the impositions are automatically laid out, and the output is sent to several digital printing systems.
Compucut Auto-Control calculates the cutting programs fully automatically on Polar cutting technology. Around 700 orders are processed every day. Orders received by 7pm are delivered on the same day from 9pm.
For the more than 600 million folding cartons produced annually, Bauer Packaging works with a new high-performance Mastermatrix 106 CSB die cutter, among other equipment.
Prinect Touch Free unlocks potential in digitalisation
The second day of the event at the Home of Print in Wiesloch-Walldorf was dedicated to this broad topic.
Heidelberg, together with its partners, presented itself as a solution provider and system integrator for end-to-end production in commercial and packaging printing – from the PDF file to the delivered product.
Special attention was paid to hybrid print production with Speedmaster technology on the one hand and digital printing with Jetfire 50 and Versafire systems on the other. The focus was on fully automated workflow control via the new Prinect Touch Free workflow. The AI-supported software guides an order independently and without human intervention through the entire manufacturing process, always taking into account the most cost-effective production route, available capacity, the current order backlog, and delivery dates. Prinect Touch Free is scheduled to be available from the end of 2025.
“With SHIFT, Heidelberg has created a unique platform where participants can network, discuss the topic of digital transformation and gain inspiration for solutions,” said Dr. David Schmedding, chief technology and sales officer at Heidelberg.
“We want to support our customers as partners with all our process expertise and experience in process digitalisation.
“Heidelberg will therefore continue the format due to the extremely positive feedback. The industry can already look forward to SHIFT 2026!”
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