{"id":137876,"date":"2026-03-27T09:02:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/902083421"},"modified":"2026-03-27T09:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:02:29","slug":"print-tech-advances-highlighted-at-heidelberg-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/print-tech-advances-highlighted-at-heidelberg-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Print tech advances highlighted at Heidelberg event"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Heidelberg emphasised the strength of its workflow, service and support offering at its \u2018Beyond the Machine\u2019 event this week where guests also had a chance to look under the hood of the recently-installed Jetfire 50 at its UK demo centre.<\/p>\n

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Managing director Ryan Miles said the UK was \u201ca key market for Heidelberg\u201d, hence the investment in installing the Jetfire 50 at its Stockley Park facility. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond the Machine is about what we have always done, how we can help play a part in helping you [customers] as you are all on some sort of digitisation journey and pathway,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Miles also emphasised the substantial investment Heidelberg has made in its service and support offering, both in the field and in the back office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aim to have the right people at your side all the time,\u201d he noted.  <\/p>\n

Some 60 customers attended, and head of sales Phil Buttress said he was delighted that so many key decision makers had taken the time out to attend.<\/p>\n

Attendees included Kirk Galloway, CEO of newly-crowned Printweek Company of the Year Buxton Press.<\/p>\n

Buttress said: \u201cIt was a really positive day. I think every customer has their own view on what they\u2019re going to do next, and where digital could fit into their business.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut one thing that\u2019s more and more apparent is the importance of workflow and how it integrates with the offset side of the business \u2013 it\u2019s how you produce in the most efficient way, finish it, box the job up and get it invoiced. Customers like the turnkey solution we can offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the Jetfire 50, he quipped: \u201cPeople like the ease-of-use, after two days of training I could run that machine!\u201d<\/p>\n

Heidelberg is pitching the Jetfire at runs from \u201cone sheet to 1,500\u201d, according to head of software solutions Paul Chamberlain.<\/p>\n

Heidelberg\u2019s Prinect workflow was also showcased, including its hybrid production capabilities in diverting jobs to litho or digital production.<\/p>\n

Attendees were also shown a preview of the upcoming Prinect Touch Free autonomous workflow system<\/a>, which is able to route jobs based on the best options for cost and performance.<\/p>\n

Rob Cross, joint managing director at Micropress in Reydon, Suffolk, gave an insightful talk about the future of print from his firm\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

Micropress has invested heavily in the latest technology and installed the first Jetfire 50 in the UK<\/a> earlier this year, while last year it installed the country\u2019s first Drupa-spec Speedmaster XL 106, an eight-colour perfector with Plate to Unit automation<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Cross said that the future of print for Micropress meant \u201cembracing automation, robotics and digital innovation\u201d, including autonomous manufacturing whereby jobs just flow through the firm\u2019s factory.<\/p>\n

Cross told Printweek<\/em> that the firm was handling more short-run jobs, but conversely also more long-run work as jobs previously printed web offset migrate onto high-speed sheetfed litho.<\/p>\n

He said the \u00a330m-turnover firm expected to increase its use of robotics: \u201cThe future involves more robots, alongside highly-skilled employees. AGVs (automated guided vehicles) will be replaced by AMRs \u2013 autonomous mobile robots,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are actively looking at taking it to the next level,\u201d he stated, and concluded on an optimistic note: \u201cThe industry is going through a bit of a revolution with the technology that is available and there will be a lot of change in the coming years, make sure you are in front of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see so much opportunity \u2013 print is more alive than ever!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… has invested heavily in the latest technology<\/span> and installed the first Jetfire 50 … through a bit of a revolution with the technology<\/span> that is available and there …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}