This month Heidelberg celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Saphira brand – an extensive portfolio of high-quality consumables for everyday print jobs and special applications, as well as all production requirements for prepress, press and postpress. All Saphira consumables were optimized and tested specially for use in Heidelberg solutions. They help users maximize the performance of their presses and achieve consistent, repeatable quality printing. Saphira products also meet all industry standards for the protection of the environment and, overall, contribute considerably to the level of investment security of the equipment used, said the OEM. For example, its ECO product line, which meets the strictest environmental protection criteria of the printing industry, includes the chemical-free Saphira ND 100 plate that better protects the environment while reducing consumables’ costs. Heidelberg also offers consumables of other providers under their own brands. In addition, heidelberg reported that more and more of its customers worldwide are ordering Heidelberg Saphira coatings and other consumables online. About 2,300 of these customers are already registered and active in the Heidelberg Online Shop – and that trend is increasing.
The global market for consumables exceeds 8 billion Euros. Heidelberg currently has a market share of around 5%. By 2022, Heidelberg intends to considerably increase sales growth in the area of consumables through subscription and omni-channel models, as well as through digital transformation. Saphira supports both models. With the subscription or operator model, Heidelberg supplies a “smart” complete system, consisting of machines, services, consumables and software, installs it and supports the management of production. Heidelberg retains ownership of the production system and makes sure that the printing process runs optimally with maximum availability. The customer pays per printed sheet.
With the “Heidelberg Digital Unit”, Heidelberg has launched a new competence centre for digital marketing and eCommerce that will also serve the growing consumables market. Last fall, the Consumables and Services divisions at Heidelberg were merged to form the new Lifecycle Solutions division. The new division will offer customers additional solution packages beyond the OEM’s existing product portfolio – including services, application know-how and consumables – over the entire lifecycle of the press. In this way, the customer improves his competitiveness and is ready for the next investment.
“In the future we want to be a strong partner for our customers with our digital technologies and networked systems”, said Dr. Frank Schaum, Head of the Lifecycle Solutions division at Heidelberg. “In the digital age, the focus is much more on customer benefits for the business model, and less on the product. In this way, we help our customers to significantly increase productivity through a coordinated range of consumables and systems, enable maximum availability through preventive maintenance, and simplify the procurement and logistics of consumables. Our subscription models give our customers more freedom to take care of their businesses.”
Heidelberg celebrates 10 years of Saphira consumables
