On March 19, at the company’s North American Print and Packaging Technology Center in Kennesaw, GA, USA, Heidelberg hosted a coming-out party for its new XL 75 Anicolor digital offset press. The event marked the North American launch of Heidelberg’s most recent addition to its short-run color portfolio. Nearly 200 customers and prospects turned out for a series of demonstrations and discussions highlighting the XL 75 Anicolor’s cost efficiency for digital market run lengths in 29″ format for commercial, label, package printing and point-of-purchase (POP) applications.

“The open house for Anicolor XL 75 was one of the best industry events I have attended in the last 10 years,” says Jim Clark, director of operations for McNaughton & Gunn, a book printing specialist located in Saline, MI, USA. “The demonstration was beyond impressive: five makereadies in 22 minutes using five different materials and five different designs, and sellable color within 20 sheets. The format of the open house encouraged us to take a deep dive into the technology,” he adds. “For those of us who took the plunge had an opportunity to review the press from feeder to delivery, it was a revelation. Understanding the technology always makes it easier to justify any purchase.”

Highlighting the event was a panel discussion and Q&A session moderated by Joerg Daehnhardt, director of product management for Heidelberg USA, during which industry experts and technology users shared their insights about the growing market for short-run offset. Panelists included Mark Bohan, vice president, technology and research with Printing Industries of America (PIA), who was among the first to get a ground-floor,behind-the-scenes look at Heidelberg’s Anicolor technology since it received an InterTech Technology Award from PIA.

“I’ve been following the development of Anicolor technology for several years now,” Bohan said. “I was happy to participate in what turned out to be an unusually lively and very interactive discussion sparked by the outstanding capabilities of the XL 75 Anicolor press. When it comes to short-run static work – as determined using Heidelberg’s data and PIA’s PrintAS calculator – the XL 75 Anicolor press displayed a significantly lower crossover than many in the industry had anticipated, at approximately 250 sheets. The business implications of these findings clearly were not lost on the printers in attendance.”