In 2019, Heidelberg’s Print Media Center Atlanta (PMC Atlanta) educated, trained, and supported nearly 1,000 printers through events, trainings, and demonstrations. PMC Atlanta is the home to Heidelberg’s North American headquarters and is the company’s largest print demonstration center outside of Heidelberg, Germany. PMC Atlanta has partnered with and attracted customers worldwide — focusing particularly on North America.

In the past year, Heidelberg North America has held four open houses with over 100 customers at each event. Each open house has highlighted a particular theme, whether that be commercial, packaging or label, while still giving customers the resources to see new equipment at each event.

The main focus of all events has been to showcase how Heidelberg’s workflow, equipment, products and services all work together to give customers an efficient solution for their business. According to Errol Moebius, director of Print Media Center Atlanta, “Here at Print Media Center Atlanta, we strive to show our customers how they can make their own print shops more productive and efficient. We want customers to leave our events with a complete understanding of the Heidelberg portfolio along with our data collection to promote Smart Business Intelligence (BI).”

Along with the open houses, PMC Atlanta has also held several industry events, including G7 training with IDEAlliance and IOPP (Institute of Packaging Professionals) events, in order to network and stay in touch with the ever-changing print industry. PMC Atlanta also welcomes and encourages the next generation of printers and designers by opening its doors to university tours as well as facilitating SkillsUSA competitions and trainings for print students.

“From industry professionals to aspiring printers, PMC Atlanta is the perfect place to network, learn about new technologies, give demonstrations, and train the future print industry professionals. We are very glad that we are able to host and assist printers and graphic art students at all stages of their careers under one roof,” says Felix Mueller, president of Heidelberg Americas.

“The event I attended at Heidelberg was time very well spent. I oversee all aspects of production at our plant, and my time is at a premium. By providing relevant information about technological advances, efficient processes and new equipment demonstrations during a professional, comprehensive open house, Heidelberg once again proves themselves to be the leader in the industry,” notes Julia Farmer, vice president of operations at Intellicor Communications in Lancaster, PA.

Another popular activity at PMC Atlanta is one-on-one customer demonstrations. Each week, customers visit PMC Atlanta for demonstrations in-person or remotely via streaming services. Equipped with industry-leading demonstrators, over 10 machines from prepress to press to finishing, and various technologies, Heidelberg can showcase their offerings through these demonstrations — whether it is an intimate custom demonstration or a free webinar open to the public.

“At Print Media Center Atlanta, we are here to serve our customers and show them the capabilities of our machines and workflow. Whether a customer needs a demonstration, webinar, remote demo, customer solutions testing or digital sample work, we are available to support,” adds Moebius.

PMC Atlanta also offers several training classes to help operators understand the technologies of Heidelberg equipment. According to Moebius, “In order for Heidelberg to continue to be successful, we need our customers to be successful, as well. Training helps our customers fully understand the capabilities of our equipment and helps them reach peak productivity quicker.”

In order to keep up with the latest technology available, PMC Atlanta consistently rotates equipment as it becomes available. Whether it’s workflow or platemaking, offset or digital machines, commercial postpress, post-press packaging, or narrow web label presses, PMC Atlanta is always highlighting the latest technology to serve all print shops. “Our customers continue to revisit the PMC Atlanta because of our updated equipment,” says Moebius. “We also make sure we have equipment in-house for all print shop sizes and job requirements — always something for printers to see here at Heidelberg.”