Dr Ludwin Monz took over as chairman and CEO from outgoing boss Rainer Hundsdörfer today (1 April).
Monz said his task was to use Heidelberg’s technological strength to generate new business.
“To do this, we have to sustainably increase profitability and resilience and make our existing technological expertise available for new markets in a targeted manner,” he stated, and said customers had high expectations.
"The important goal is therefore not to stand still in our own development,” he noted.
“We want to prioritise our strategy and the expansion of our leading position in our core markets even more closely in line with customer needs. Because our claim is to always be the best partner for our customers.”
Hundsdorfter has spent six years at the group and spoke to Printweek about his experiences earlier inn the year, prior to stepping down.
In line with its Power of Color theme, Heidelberg has also announced some additions to its colour measurement and control systems.
These include a new version of Prinect Easy Control with new features including the ability to measure micro print control strips of just 3.25x4mm in field size.
Prinect Inpress Control 3 gains the ability to measure and control opaque white on dark, metallic, and transparent substrates; while a new waste control feature allows the use of waste sheets to set up the inking units.
Heidelberg also said that existing AI tool Color Assistant Pro “realises its full potential” when combined with Prinect Inpress Control 3.
The latest generation of Prinect Image Control 4 now measures both the quality control strip and the entire print image, which Heidelberg said was particularly useful for step and repeat jobs such as labels and packaging.
Prinect Axis Control now supports M1 measuring that takes into account the paper white and optical brighteners used in the paper.
Meanwhile, Prinect Production Manager now offers improved connection with third-party systems thanks to a single interface for importing and exporting colour exchange format (CxF) data. A central colour database also allows values to be shared across multiple presses on the same network.
Jürgen Mittmann, senior manager product management sheetfed, commented: “The consistent development of the entire Heidelberg spectral color measurement portfolio gives commercial and packaging print shops of all sizes the opportunity to optimise their color workflow, moving it closer to the smart print shop model – even as far as autonomous printing.”
Monz’s appointment was announced last October.
