The new Speedmaster CD 102, which will be available in the UK from April, has a starting price of €1.2m (£1m) and according to the manufacturer’s Matt Rockley it can cut makeready times by up to 20%. “The benefits of these machines are obvious," he said. "The important thing for us is not so much running speed and makeready times, it’s the function, and the CD 102's success in the market speaks for itself.

“With the new CD 102, we have phased out the older Preset Delivery, which was a relatively manual operation and it now has a Preset Plus feeder and delivery which will really produce faster makereadies and increased capacity,” he added.

The new press, available with four, five or six units plus coater, at 15,000sph has the same running speed of the previous CD 102 model and can handle substrates from 0.3mm up to 1mm thick paper or card.

It can be configured with UV, automatic wash-up devices and supports Heidelberg’s Preset Plus Delivery, which automates format and air settings, with the Drystar Combination Carton Dryer system with two slide-in modules for infrared and hot air specifically for packaging printing.

Autoplate changer and Prinect Press Centre Compact press control station come as standard with colour management controlled by Prinect Easy Control. 

The new device is compatible with Prinect Workflow and can be connected to the Prinect Image Control colour measuring and control system.

The new model, which is manufactured in Germany at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site for UK and European customers, is being targeted at commercial and packaging printers.

Rockley said some installations were already underway in Europe, while the vendor was in talks with UK customers.

"The Speedmaster CD 102 has gained an outstanding reputation on the market over many years thanks to its productivity and value retention and has undergone continuous development by Heidelberg," added Heidelberg’s Stephan Plenz.

"With over 50,000 printing units produced, it is the most successful straight-printing press in the B1 format. We're taking this success story another step forward and have enhanced the new Speedmaster CD 102 with innovative technology, adapting it to our customers' changing productivity needs."