Dick Searle, chief executive, The Packaging Federation "Digital print comes into its own for short runs and for the pharmaceutical market that is an advantage as companies can incorporate changes in areas such as patient information. I am not surprised that Heidelberg is trying to grow its presence in the sector, as during the recession it proved itself to be extremely resilient and actually saw increases in volumes in many areas. It makes sense that Heidelberg may be looking to break into the pharmaceutical market as it does tend to be a shorter-run market."
Kevin O’Donnell, graphic communications marketing manager, Xerox "Heidelberg’s acquisition of CSAT comes on the back of its recent partnering with Ricoh and that tells me that digital now forms a major part of its mix. Heidelberg had a go at digital 10 years ago when they partnered with Kodak, but there seemed a lack of real corporate commitment to it. This acquisition is a small step, but it shows a strategic intention to enter the digital marketplace. I think you could call this the coming of age of digital and it’s a validation of what we have been doing for the past 15-20 years."
Andy Cook, managing director, FFEI "Heidelberg has never really been active in the inkjet market outside what they were doing with Linoprint, and that’s been very much focused on pharmaceutical applications rather than labels, so it will be interesting to see what they do with CSAT. It’s clearly a major shift for them, but what’s not clear is what they are intending to do. The Heidelberg brand carries a huge amount of weight so if they really did get their act together then they would be a credible force in the marketplace – it could be a serious entry into the narrow web label market."
Dick Searle, chief executive, The Packaging Federation "Digital print comes into its own for short runs and for the pharmaceutical market that is an advantage as companies can incorporate changes in areas such as patient information. I am not surprised that Heidelberg is trying to grow its presence in the sector, as during the recession it proved itself to be extremely resilient and actually saw increases in volumes in many areas. It makes sense that Heidelberg may be looking to break into the pharmaceutical market as it does tend to be a shorter-run market."
Kevin O’Donnell, graphic communications marketing manager, Xerox "Heidelberg’s acquisition of CSAT comes on the back of its recent partnering with Ricoh and that tells me that digital now forms a major part of its mix. Heidelberg had a go at digital 10 years ago when they partnered with Kodak, but there seemed a lack of real corporate commitment to it. This acquisition is a small step, but it shows a strategic intention to enter the digital marketplace. I think you could call this the coming of age of digital and it’s a validation of what we have been doing for the past 15-20 years." 
Andy Cook, managing director, FFEI "Heidelberg has never really been active in the inkjet market outside what they were doing with Linoprint, and that’s been very much focused on pharmaceutical applications rather than labels, so it will be interesting to see what they do with CSAT. It’s clearly a major shift for them, but what’s not clear is what they are intending to do. The Heidelberg brand carries a huge amount of weight so if they really did get their act together then they would be a credible force in the marketplace – it could be a serious entry into the narrow web label market."
