pressXchange



Howard’s World

Nick Howard

CAPITAL INVESTMENT FOR PRINTERS

A talk by Nick Howard, President, Howard Graphic Equipment, July 2016

Nick Howard, with more than four decades of experience in capital investment spending specifically within the printing industry, recently spoke at a seminar discussing what printing-company managers need to consider when evaluating emerging offset, inkjet and toner technologies for real-world production.

With his unique knowledge set, Howard discussed how to best position his listeners’ departments or companies for Return on Investment, fluctuating exchange rates, and ensuring optimal delivery of technology.

 

I could be standing here in 1904 and telling you about a fantastic new way to print that would make your current printing equipment obsolete!  Drastic new inventions are nothing new to Printers.  Back in 1904 when a guy from New Jersey named Ira Rubel miss-fed a sheet on his Planographic stone press, a new process was born.

During the next 50 years offset was met with distrust, ridicule and a lot of technological problems.
It also grew to first dominate then crush its predecessor.  Rubel had a press built in 1904 and was so concerned about his secret getting out he formed a syndicate with another printer called Sherwood.  The Sherbel syndicate essentially locked out any printer who wanted to get their hands on his press.

In 1906 Rubel travelled to London England where he was to meet people from George Mann and Co.,  a large letterpress manufacturer to see if he could contract Mann to build his presses.  But...  He had to return home in an emergency and left his printing samples and offset press drawings behind.  Mann was astounded by what they saw in the samples.  The next year a George Mann offset press was being sold!

In 1906 the Harris brothers ended the monopoly when they started building and selling Harris offset presses.  Harris sold to anyone interested.   And there were a lot.   The Harris Corporation went on to great things and is still a billion dollar company.  Rubel and his syndicate did not and are not.

Major manufacturers such as Miehle, Koenig & Bauer, Goss and even Heidelberg, swore they’d never build an offset press and campaigned against a cheap technology that was never going to rival the quality of letterpress.  It wasn’t until 1962 that Heidelberg actually built an offset press, and even after the Heidelberg KOR – a 15 x 22” single colour – was made. Heidelberg remained a staunch letterpress advocate for many years.  Koenig and Bauer followed suit.

The Germans instead pushed a new form of letterpress that was easier and had supposedly higher quality.  A type of Dycril polymer plate was processed much like flexo plates are today.  This meant one solid forme, easier register and you still used film to expose onto the plate.  Heidelberg referred to this type of printing as “Letterset”; on its introduction the famous Heidelberg News carried an article showing the advantages with Letterset and sticking with Letterpress. They even printed a sheet with half being printed offset and the other letterpress.

Some German companies did see the promise and started making offset presses just after the First World War.  Dresdner Maschinenfabrik – later known as Planeta, was an early participant. 

Planeta was purchased by KBA after the Berlin Wall came down.  Faber & Schleicher – now referred to as Man Roland, was another.

But these two German companies were the exception and not the rule.

In Japan early imports of Harris presses were well received. By 1926 Komori started to build copies of the early Harris SL. Komori even used imperial measurement in making the parts.
We have such a press in our museum and I was quite surprised to find all the thread pitches in standard measurement.

Everything with offset was new: Zinc then aluminium plates, whirlers, graining machines, cameras, all needed to be invented.  Chemistry was an equally difficult problem. Anyone running a press or making plates had to be quasi-chemist. Formulas were closely guarded and every pressman kept his own recipes.

I once heard a story about a London England Repro house - repro was what the English called pre-press.  A city inspector came by enquiring if the company could tell them why all the rats had been dying in the sewer - the chemistry used back then was lethal: Sulphuric acids and Phosphoric acid when mixed with other nasty chemicals such as ammonia, was a killer- not only for rats but people too.  All sorts of symbiotic industries were created just because of the offset press. Agfa Gaevert for one- would still be making X-ray and roll film had it not been for the growing needs of offset printers everywhere.

New technologies always create unrest in the marketplace and with recent unveilings at Drupa indicate we may not be too far off from another major shift.

The discussion centers on larger formats - not the smaller document size machine we have been using for over 25 years now.  I’m speaking of platforms that can output 40” materials in roll and sheet.  As with Offset’s early days , today we are debating the merits of these larger faster digital machines. Just like offset there were as many reasons not to invest in the process -  as there was to invest.

Another similarity is the log jam of manufacturers coming out with their versions of the next big thing.  Offset pioneers such as Kellogg, Potter and Huber are forgotten.
Concepts such as feed-rolls and ductor dampening are oddities new pressman never heard of.  Even something as simple as a pin register system for mounting plates seemed incredible and cut hours off a make-ready, only to be discarded by automatic plate changers. CTP’s arrival pushed us into digital imaging where every plate was exactly the same and fit issues almost disappeared overnight.

Film and plate preparation was an important skill.  Taking buckets full of film and assembling them – making overlays, masks was part of a lengthy process that also included opaquing , screens and ruby tape.  To make a quick proof or dummy you needed special paper and a Kokomo filter to supply a “Van Dyck”; one favourite trick with plate makers was the use of string.  Imagine how many times plates had to be re-made?  String – when used correctly- was a little cheat. To pull in corners of a difficult fit job – lay a string between plate and film. It would pull in the corners.

There were two reasons why pressman didn’t like the pre-press dept.  One was because strippers never admitted it was their problem when plates failed.  The other was that Strippers were paid more than the pressman!

Why then are we all so excited about Digital printing presses?  The same reason our forefathers were about offset in 1906.  Offset offered better quality, sharper halftones, improved 4 colour process and no lead type, lock up furniture, stereos and slow speeds.  Printers wanted more of everything that would improve the quality of their work because they knew that the public would beat a path to their doors.

Digital offers the same new hope. No plates, no blankets, no rollers, no dampening system, virtually no make-ready and faster cycle times.  Printers know what they need today too - and that’s a lower cost platform that can equal offset quality-  provide variable printing and have very fast change over times.  Landa Digital has been the focus of much of this attention because it was at Drupa 2012 that Benny Landa – a liquid toner pioneer, told us that his machines could run 11,000 impressions per hour and with stock right out of a carton.

 Fast forward to Drupa 2016 and the Landa platform looks very much different and rated speeds have tumbled to 6,500 impressions per hour.

Still that’s faster than anyone else can offer in a 40” press. There is so much chatter about Landa’s device. Why so many Piezo heads? Will the belt stand up? What difficulties will arise when adding water to the Nano ink? Even though Landa has signed orders and Komori is also selling the same press, will it be worth the 3 million plus dollars they ask?

The answers to most of these questions are – “I don’t Know”.  It works in principle.  It works in testing.  But after a year in production there will be a long list of modifications.

Similar questions were raised about offset too.  As we all know - eventually and after many decades - offset did become the standard in our industry.
Only now it won’t take decades.  The rapid drop in new offset press sales is not only a testament to the digital buzz but also to print’s new integration in the internet- smart phone world.

Various forces are at play and all at the same time. Digital is just one of these that affects the average Printer.

From what I know, Landa is using Fujifilm piezo heads. Possibly similar to the Heidelberg-Fuji collaborated Primefire 106 press and a few others.  If piezo does become the choice for the majority of manufacturers – then FujiFilm has been right all along in its huge investment in this technology.  Fujifilm, Canon, Zeikon, and Landa, garner a lot of the attention.
But now all over the world, including Canada, there are platforms and technology systems being constructed.  Decades to an excellent solution - will instead become years or even months.

Costs arguments

It’s hard to be encouraged about buying now when:

Most of the machinery needs some type of special sealer application for the substrates

  • Or that speeds are in the 3,000 impressions per hour region
  • Or price tags eclipse what a brand new offset press would sell for
  • These new machines are expensive and limit you to your choice of consumables. You become locked in
  • If you’re into a web to print and have dozens of short run jobs per day then there is a good reason to consider larger format digital
  • If you print in the hundreds of thousands then there is absolutely no reason – at the moment- to even look to digital
  • 40” Packaging printers  that have long runs will be hard pressed to see the advantages of eliminating offset’s costs by purchasing a digital press that runs a quarter of the speed -  but costs  a quarter more than their current press

Printers need all sorts of machinery and always have. With run lengths falling almost everyone in this room as some type of platform- be it liquid or dry toner or piezo.

The next 3 to 4 years will be the tipping point.  Restrictions in output seem to be the biggest challenge to digital manufacturers.

  • Inkjet designs are restrictive, complicated and expensive
  • Platforms are slow
  • They need constant maintenance
  • Inkjet especially, must get faster and as important - cheaper

The Long Wait.  Many of us are waiting and watching carefully.

Who is buying what and why?  It’s always been that way and there are always small group of outliers who, regardless of potential risks, jump right in.  Our last major technology leap was CTP. Early pioneers paved the way for everyone else.  In fact it was RR Donnelly that was instrumental in developing the CTP device. Donnelly found Creo and worked closely with them.

My approach in specifically the larger 29” to 40” press sizes, is to wait a little longer.   Today’s novelty will be tomorrow’s boat anchor.  Financing of new technology is a work in progress. Provided the manufacturer back-stops any loans deals get done.   But if this new machines need outside arm’s length financing it’s going to be rather difficult to place a value on any of it in 5 years from purchase.  Even Banks are very sceptical of printing platforms already as they know a current proven machine is almost worthless in 3 to 5 years.  With even bigger dollars at risk – finding your own finance may prove difficult for some.

Very few machines have been proven. Surprisingly even less have been through a good beta cycle.  My interest will intensify when speeds increase dramatically, substrate preconditioning is eliminated and machine and or click charges start to fall.  Until then, unless you have a perfect niche, digital presses cannot eliminate offset from a pressroom.  We want something new. We want to rid ourselves of heavy infrastructures that cost a lot of money to run and maintain.  Our run lengths and larger variety of work we do, demands we find more instant cheaper alternatives.  This is why there is so much interest in the new digital wave.

Digital brings hope and allows us to take advantage of new printing products for new sectors of marketing.  With so much in development one also needs to ask how long it will be when someone figures out how to make paper reactive to an intermediate source?  Reactive paper, perhaps a modern version of silver laden photographic paper.  Is it really a stretch to assume a special paper passing through a simple energy source could transform and without inks, chemicals, driers!

As Mr, Landa argues – just think about the simplicity of that!  Genetically altered substrates – whatever the cost, could change all that.  History clearly teaches us that progress can never be held back.  Don’t bet against digital replacing the offset process.  Don’t assume that digital in whatever form is the end game either.

The printing industry has changed so much in 20 years. Gone are a great deal of printed matter once considered absolutely necessary.  We sometimes forget that just as fast as forms and newsletters vanish – brand new segments opened up.  Printers don’t print exclusively on paper anymore.  They also aren’t just printers -  but managers of clients advertising campaigns.
I wouldn’t have had my eave troughs cleaned -  had it not been for a simple postcard delivered to my mailbox.  Google may assume they know me. -  but not this time.  Print worked yesterday – it still does today – and it will tomorrow.  Technology is driving the printing industry so hold on to your hats and wallets. The times are changing.

In the next few months we will open our Howard Iron Works printing museum in a new location.  I invite all of you to come and visit.  Inside you will find over 200 machines and hundreds of artifacts all focussed on print.  We have restored both the stars and the dogs of years past. Offset, letterpress and intaglio presses can be seen working.  I know of no other industry that required the skills of a machinist, grammar of a teacher and strength of a weightlifter.  Printing was and is all about creation and brain power.

The Life, Death and Resurrection of Manroland

October 2016

Howard

Manroland HiPrint 700 (photo courtesy of Manroland Sheetfed)

An air of gloom hung over the Offenbach and Augsburg offices of a once powerful press building empire. It was the fall of 2011. November 25 to be exact.  Court appointed receiver/administrator: Werner Schneider, was busy trying to close a deal. The announcement had been made that the two major shareholders - Allianz Capital Partners and MAN, made it known they would write down their losses and no further support would be forthcoming.  Between these two behemoths they controlled the bulk of the shares.

How could a company with such a rich history of innovation and global dominance, find itself in such dire straits?  The answers are complicated since there were many reasons and not all within the control of Manroland. Well, after months of hand wringing a deal was made from what at first seemed an unlikely source – the English.  Langley Holdings PLC of Great Britain snapped up the assets of the insolvent Manroland sheetfed segment while Germany’s Possehl Group bought the web division.

2012 was a tough year not only for Manroland but every other major press manufacturer. Perhaps short memories let us forget that the printing industry – on a world-wide level had its own share of problems. The 2008 financial collapse of banking industries holds some responsibility for the lack of investments made by printers, however the constant migration from printed materials to the web has and still is the main catalyst for many of the industry’s problems.

Howard

The Genesis of the Rekord RZK3B

I wasn’t dusting desks, cleaning floors or counting inventory for the receiver, therefore my comments are speculative and from a retrospective advantage. I recall that when I read the news (of manroland’s insolvency), I was not so much shocked as saddened. During my entire career ROLAND was a part of our industry and for most of it a leader.

The story of manroland offset innovation is a long one. In fact the longest in continental Europe. Well before MAN came into the picture there was a firm started by two men with divergent backgrounds.  During the Franco-Prussian war Louis Faber and Adolf Schleicher left a hostile Paris France for Frankfurt. There they migrated to the city Of Offenbach – the home of the inventor of Lithography Alois Senefelder. They formed a company to make printing machines. This was in 1871 and “Association for Production of Automatic Lithographic Presses” was born.  The name would be changed in 1900 to Faber & Schleicher AG.

By 1879 F & S had built their first lithographic stone press and from that moment forward their focus would remain within the lithographic field.  But things were changing. At the early stages of the 20th century a German by the name of Casper Hermann had returned from America. In America Hermann was employed by the Harris Automatic Press company and he was well versed with a new phenomenon called “Offset”. Both Harris and another American - Ira Rubel - happened upon the discovery of offset by accident. Rubel in 1904 and Harris in 1906. Casper Hermann brought the new found discovery to Germany and for a time worked with the giant press maker VOMAG in Plauen before building his own copy of the Harris press he called the Triumpf. Oddly enough with the demise of the Berlin wall PLAMAG found themselves part of manroland.

Faber & Schleicher paid attention and brought out their first lithographic offset press in 1911. This was to also mark the first time the word “ROLAND” would be seen on a printing press.

Howard

From 1929 - a Health and Safety Officer's nightmare

Most of us associate MAN with ROLAND but the two were completely different companies. MAN had an even older history with direct links to the founding fathers of printing machine building – Koenig & Bauer. MAN also were also building hand-fed offset presses and their first Web Offset machine in 1921, so they too had a long history of offset. It wasn’t until 1979 that MAN purchased the assets of Faber and Schleicher re-branding the new entity Man Roland.

Prior to the 1979 purchase Roland was well ensconced as a market leader in offset production. 1937 saw an important alliance with Chicago’s Miehle Company (latterly known as Miehle-Goss-Dexter). This relationship for all of North America distribution would continue until 1990 when Manroland took back the agency from then owner Rockwell International.

Roland dominated sheetfed sales for more than a quarter century at that point. Everything from SRA1 to size 7 formats working in all segments of print. If you were a carton printer they had a press, a map printer or commercial printer, they had that too. Although the Favorit name appeared before 1967 it wasn’t until the Drupa (1967) that the world saw a marvel in future thinking. The new Favorit would prove to be years ahead of anything produced to that point. Even today the press has features common on 2016 machines. It was also very fast, had a creep drive, smooth swing arm, electronic sheet controls and a host of other as yet unseen inventions.

The Favorit paved the way for this technology to be transferred to a new generation REKORD and PARVA and further solidified Roland’s position as the number one offset press manufacturer.  Oddly enough as demand for more colour created needs for presses of four or more printing units, Roland stubbornly stayed with their chain transfer system. Odd because almost everyone else tried and failed with a chain transfer. Heidelberg, Koenig and Bauer, ColorMetal, Kiekebusch even Harris brought out machines because a chain transfer was cheaper to build. Only Roland was successful and especially with models such as the Rekord RVK-3b and 800 series made places like the UK, Europe and southeast Asia faithful followers.  

Later inventions such as the vacuum feedboard, up-and-over deliveries, coating/back print towers, pneumatic side-guide, center separation feeder (Mabeg) started to turn up on Rolands. Rolandmatic a continuous dampening system drawn from American Harold Dahlgren’s genius became the first factory built bare-back dampening system ever made by a manufacturer. Later novel inventions or improvements specifically de-clutchable plate cylinders were born from Roland. Think on-press cold foil is an aftermarket device? Manroland had it first. All these key designs would be well ahead of everyone else.

Howard

New generation Favorit RZF0b

In the back rooms of the design centre there were changes afoot. Printers could see the benefits of a unitized (all print units the same) press. Unitized presses led by Heidelberg, had been nibbling away at Roland’s market share by the mid 1980’s and the writing was on the wall that something needed to be done to design a press which could incorporate a convertible perfector (Roland had one but it was not successful) as well as a host of features almost impossible to implement into a common impression- chain transfer press. By the time manroland had purchased Miller from the Fritz Werner industrial combine, Roland had such a press in the completely new model 700.  Oddly enough Miller had been working on a potentially explosive new press in the HS 104. This machine had many of the features we take for granted in today’s modern platforms. But although Manroland displayed the HS 104 at Drupa 1990, the press was killed off in favour of the 700.

As with manroland’s other market changing inventions the 700 was again well ahead of its time. As we now know probably well ahead of the technology levels that it possessed too. At 15,000 iph it was fast. Fibre optic connections to individual units not fully proven and this caused headaches for the firm as they raced to correct problems for a press that was the world’s first software driven press. The unique highlights in development of PECOM – Manroland’s operation software and PPL (Power Plate Loading) took a back seat to industry buzz about the reliability of the 700.  One could say the 700 was the Achilles heel for Manroland. Had the early years gone better there is no doubt that Manroland would not have faced the hardship of declining sales and popularity of its brand.

By 1995 most of the teething issues had been resolved however the downward spiral was in full effect. Other manufacturers had caught up. After studying the 700, machine builders in Germany and Japan rolled out faster more automated machines slowly eroding the once formidable Roland customer base.  This brings us to the end of manroland’s first life in 2011.
Langley Holdings PLC and the Possehl Group were the winning bidders of Manroland. Each took a segment (sheetfed and web). The great thing about purchasing a business that is insolvent – if there is one - means that besides getting the business on the cheap you get all the intellectual property as well as real estate too. Not having to deal with legacy costs such as pensions, redundant employees is another benefit. So far Langley has made a go of its sheetfed purchase even re-launching the 700 with new features.   According to Langley press releases they made money last year too!

The resurrection of Manroland is complete. Both sheet and web are much smaller companies with very solid platforms that will hopefully keep alive the truly amazing market leadership in offset technology for years to come.  

University of Michigan’s William L. Clements Library acquires an 1851 Columbian Press from Howard Iron Works

April 2016

Howard

On April 11, 2016, after 2 1/2 years and an over $17-million dollar renovation, the Clements Library has re-opened. Besides the extensive 80,000 books and 30,000 maps, Clements now has another piece of history and as rare as some of the treasures on the shelves. An 1851 George Clymer “Columbian” printing press - one of the most beautiful machines ever invented - sits proudly in the magnificent Avenir Foundation Room. For good reason, it’s possible that even some of the books held could have been printed on such a press.

Howard Iron Works and Howard Graphic Equipment Ltd. teamed up with Clements Library’s Director, J. Kevin Graffagnino, in the fall of 2015. It was Kevin’s dream to have a restored printing press in the newly revamped facility and he was very specific about that press being a Columbian.

Liana Howard comments “We are so very proud to supply one of our restored printing presses to Clements. It’s an absolute honor to be able to assist Kevin in his dream to showcase the unique and breathtaking qualities of the restored William L. Clements Library. Our restorative skills could not find a more appropriate partner”.

Designed by Michigan architect Albert Kahn, the Clements Library, located next door to the President’s house, is a landmark on U-M’s central campus that houses one of the most comprehensive collections of early American history in the world.

Its name comes from the building’s benefactor, William L. Clements, an Ann Arbor native, U-M alumnus (1882) and former regent of the University who made his fortune supplying equipment for the construction of the Panama Canal and other major engineering projects at the turn of the century.

As his personal wealth grew, so did his passion for history. Clements began collecting the rare books and manuscripts that make up the heart of the existing collection.

Since then the library, which remained open in an off-campus facility on Ellsworth Rd. while renovations took place, has continued to specialize in preserving and collecting original primary source documents, maps, manuscripts, correspondence, books, prints, and early photography from 1492 to 1900.

The collection is particularly strong in material relating to the American Revolution, Mr. Clements found the descendants of many of the key players in the Revolution (Lord Shelburne, General Sir Henry Clinton, General Nathanael Greene, and others), bought their ancestors’ papers and brought them to Ann Arbor.

Other highlights resulting from more than 90 years of collecting at the Clements include documents relating to the exploration and discovery of North America, Native American history, Colonial Wars for conquest, the American Civil War and the anti-slavery movement, and the move westward.

The Evolution of Heidelberg

March 2016

For the most part, the press rooms of the world are dominated by four major players – Heidelberg, KBA, manroland and Komori. It was not always so. In earlier years, Harris and Miehle (mostly with their Roland presses) controlled the major share. People buying these brands knew they were buying excellent equipment. As with the global printing industry in general, however, there is strong competition from a host of manufacturers with quite a bit to offer. Let’s look at one of the key players.

Prior to 1975, Heidelberg held a comfortable position supplying their extremely popular S and K and M offset and, of course, the OHC cylinder and T and GT letterpress. The Rotaspeed, although superbly engineered, never did reach the expectations the designers had hoped. As Heidelberg’s entry press in the multi-colour B1 offset press market of the mid-1960s, the Rotaspeedwas the source of some interesting developments. Among these were the Ranger in-feed drum, which offered an alternative to Miller and Harris’ feed rolls and Roland’s swing arm. The Rotaspeed also featured a five-form roller inker and double diameter transfer cylinders. Heidelberg first introduced the Rotaspeed as a chain transfer machine. Needless to say, this was a concept earlier adapted by manroland with great success. The earliest version simply had delivery grippers used in the position. But registration was a constant headache. Heidelberg then switched to a lighter bar made of Suluminum (a composite metal Germany had invented during WW II). Suluminum lowered the weight of the bar and the Heidelberg engineers felt a lighter transfer gripper would achieve better registration due to less flex. Failure was again the result. By 1968 the drum transfer was made standard equipment. No one could question the effort that went into building a Rotaspeed, but for many reasons, the end was near. Out of the ashes of the Rotaspeed came the Speedmaster.

No single press in the history of offset has had the impact of the Speedmaster. From its initial production in 1974, (SM72) it has attained a reputation against which all others are compared. An extremely user-friendly press, the Speedmaster incorporated a radically new pincer perfecting device, built-in blanket washers, speed compensated dampening and the seven o’clock cylinder arrangement. Seven o’clock gave better access to the impression cylinder and also ensured the sheet was printed before transfer. Many changes have taken place with this press over the years, most notably a redesigned inker (Drupa 86), CPtronic (Drupa 90) and a much superior blanket cleaning unit (Drupa 90). In addition, the enhanced CPC console, (Drupa 82) and the CPC 4 made this press a formidable opponent for the competition. It is not uncommon to find Speedmasters’ in the field with 400 million + impressions on the clock, and without a major overhaul.

The CD machine (Carton Diameter) introduced in 1986 allowed Heidelberg to enter the carton industry (long a staple for Roland and Planeta) with a vengeance. The double-diameter impression cylinder was not new – both Planeta and Komori had it earlier. The triple-sized transfer is unique, as it almost completely eliminates anti-marking devices and allows the stock to remain flat. The Swedish Solna also used a triple transfer in their multi-unit 24 and 25 model presses. This differs from that of the conventional Speedmaster “Classic,” which has a single revolution transfer (after and before impression) and a single revolution impression cylinder. Both designs have proven popular, and the Classic still offers perfecting as an option.

Easier access to the operator’s side of the press was achieved on the Drupa 90 machines with a hinged guard. This “door” saved a great deal of time in servicing the machine. Extra cylinder grippers meant a much stronger hold on the sheet when printing full coverage, which is very important when running stock of poorer quality. The in-feed has drastically changed with a bottom swing arm replacing the proven Ranger drum. This is said to have been necessary due to the increased running speeds. The Drupa 90 Speedmaster would have very little major changes in base construction until 2004. This shows how time proven the model was.

As Komori and Mitsubishi were the first to bring out presses with plate loading and sheet formatting, Heidelberg had to go back to the drawing board and design their own plate loading systems, as well as automatic make-ready systems in the feeder and delivery. Japanese printers were the early exponents of automatic or semi-automatic plate changing. Not only has Heidelberg brought this engineering to the market, they have also gone further in their effort to build the completely automated press. The Speedmaster, GTO, M-Offset all shared similarities in design – especially in operation and perfecting. This played strongly in Heidelberg’s favor for it was easy to train and move operators up the chain from small to large machinery. (An underlining bonus that also spilled over to press technicians as well.)

Nothing stays static for long. Developments in technology and features continued during the late 1990’s. The Internet was born. Slowly it took hold and became the resource vehicle for not on Universities and Colleges but the world’s commerce. Although the late 1990’s saw Heidelberg branch out and take over almost all the independent sales agencies, it appears not only most of us in Print, but Heidelberg themselves, didn’t see what effects the computer then smart phone would have in a short space of time.

By the year 2000 Heidelberg had already built a new generation of machines. Drupa 2000 was the launch of the CD74. What a change it was. New everything! The press was now a comfortable (and smart) double – double design, (double size impression and transfer). It had a completely redesigned delivery and feeder as well as the nexgen CP2000 touchscreen console. Also looked nothing like anything Heidelberg built before. In two formats 53 x 74 and 59 x 74, this also addressed a US desire for a 12-up half size press.

But what most of us did not see is how Heidelberg envisioned the future. For the CD74 was destined to be the next platform for B1 too. Drupa 04 showed us when the XL105 press arrived. Print was already pulling out of a downturn of the 2000 and it was still a difficult economy but after a few years of slow growth the XL took off and became the world’s most in demand press. Simply stated the XL was so much better than a CD 102 it created another problem for Heidelberg. Both the SM 102 and CD 102 were strong sellers. The SM was now used almost exclusively as a perfector with hundreds built as the industry standard for long perfecting (8 units or more). The CD 102 was a hit everywhere as the commercial market also preferred the CD to the SM. How could Heidelberg stop making either of these models? The answer was they wouldn’t and so it is today that the SM (now SX) and the CD (also now available as a hyped up CX) are still being produced. A CD102 is by far the second most popular press in the second hand market.

Our print world still continued to change. Only at a much faster clip. In 2008 when the banking industry hit the wall, markets tumbled, machinery sales plummeted to near catastrophic proportions. The only news was bad news. Heidelberg being the bellwether of our industry was forced to make some hard decisions in head counts and product offerings. “Why was this happening now?” - They must have asked themselves. Drupa 2008 was the major launch of the VLF (Very large Format) XL presses. VLF was something Heidelberg swore they would never make. But it was at Drupa 72 that Heidelberg did build a super-size Rotaspeed (size 6) only to scrap the machine after the fair. In 2008, after all these years Heidelberg had finally completed the circle on sheetfed and possibly hastened the demise of the former MAN-Roland in the process. The XL 162 is a monster. Larger in overall footprint to the KBA Rapida and it was a Heidelberg. Quickly the VLF drew fans just like they have done with the Speedmaster and XL 105.

A new generation of presses, new Prinect console with its often copied Wallscreen continues Heidelberg’s hold on top spot. I think the most amazing thing about Heidelberg is its ability to evolve and quickly change. Quite a remarkable feat for a company that has its roots back to 1850 with a dispute between Andreas Hamm and his partner – Andreas Albert (the A in KBA).

If Heidelberg has any problem at all, it’s that all other presses are compared to it. Being so well known, and enjoying probably the best reputation there is in the industry, Heidelberg is definitely ranked as number one. But being number one has a price. The other three majors have strong arguments for their equipment too. But only one company comes from the city of Heidelberg! There used to be a big sign in the courtyard of the Weisloch/Waldorf super-plant. It read: “Heidelberger Geist!” - Heidelberg Spirit! - That says it all.

 

The Briton

March 2016

An old friend of my father once told me this amusing story of a trip they made almost 30 years ago. Both were crossing the Canadian border into America and rolled up in front of a US customs agent. “Nationality” barked the officer. “British” replied my father. “Then why do you have a Canadian passport?” uttered the officer.

That was so much like my dad. Born and bred in England – London to be precise, a veteran of world war two, printer by trade and served his apprenticeship at E.G. Berrymans in London. British to a fault although dad had immigrated to Canada in 1947.

The British are a resilient and cleaver people. No better example exists than in the world of second hand printing machinery. One could say it was the British who created an industry where there wasn’t one. Certainly some credit goes to the geographical and political gifts that saw many countries drawn to Britain in search of machinery. India was a very early customer and as time went on Africans, Chinese, Southeast Asians and North Americans all came calling in search of machinery.

But it wasn’t just of past connections or commonwealth ties that helped to define the used printing machine supplier. Rather it was the people that somehow always had a leg up on marketing and salesmanship. The Leeds-Wakefield area was the core of most of the dealers. Towards London and as far away as Scotland, other businesses popped up. I made many trips to England and always felt humbled by the sophistication of English dealers. People like David Hulme and the owner of this prestigious trading site Pressxchange, John Roadnight, moved the industry in ways never imagined before.

David Hulme had the world’s largest second-hand printing and graphic arts company in the world. During the 1970-s and 1980’s no one marketed themselves better. A bon vivant extraordinaire, Hulme was larger than life as he was technically savvy. His legacy is still visible today as many of the current dealers either worked for Hulme or have someone on staff that did. A similar situation occurred with Dornier Printing Machinery. John Roadnight’s business model still lives with almost all the dealers in the south of England. Almost anyone any good, cut their teeth with one of a handful of firms like Milthorp and Dornier.

With all that befell the British - wars, strikes and tough economic times, they never cease to amaze us at reinventing themselves. Even though a good portion of machinery was derived from Germany and the rest of Europe, there was no equal to the British dealer in making deals. Germans in particular were drab compared to the British with ganz Korrekt, (very correct) behaviour that, especially in the 1980’s, could never match the market penetration world-wide like the Brits. Rather ironic since the largest chunk of German printing machines flowed through German dealers too.

One could argue that not all dealers around the world had the luxury of a high quality workforce or proximity to Europe like the British. That’s true but at the same time as we can see even today when the industry has changed almost completely from dealers holding stock to dealers marketing stock, it remains that the British with their penchant for surviving continue to create new business models for the rest of us to follow.

As with any technology cycle not everything was sunny days. The British used machinery sector had their share of spectacular failures and bankruptcies. Scandals rocked the industry in the 90’s and early 2000’s as the market started to change. Britain was not immune. But just as quickly new companies popped up to replace the old.

What you can see today from suppliers all over the world was learned by the British first and exported. Although I along with others from North America, tended to feel so inadequate, as if we fell off the turnip truck coming into London, we all marveled at the sophistication, methods and adaptability of our British colleagues.

My father was a proud Briton to the end. He always saw the bright side of life and never forgot his roots. The sun may have set on parts of the empire, but the resiliency of its people will never change.

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