Heidelberg North America has recently launched Lifecycle Solutions, a new umbrella offering that brings together consumables and digital and technical services to help customers substantially increase their profits throughout the equipment lifecycle. To lead this new business, Heidelberg North America has recently appointed Steve Skeen as Vice President of Lifecycle Solutions Business Management.

Lifecycle Solutions brings together once separate business areas in Heidelberg’s vast product and services portfolio ­– consulting, training, service, quality & performance tracking through Prinect, and Saphira Consumables – into a cohesive package aimed at helping customers maximize the Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) of their equipment. With Lifecycle Solutions, much like its Subscription program, Heidelberg is taking a more active role in ensuring that its machines achieve the productivity goals of its customers.

To develop a plan to reach these goals, each Lifecycle project must begin by understanding the customer’s current level of production and its goals for improvement. Heidelberg’s team will help set realistic targets that can be achieved through an intelligent combination of standardized Saphira Consumables, expert training, and performance tracking and management. Ongoing services like Predictive Monitoring, which can identify potential downtime events before they happen, and OEE Reviews ensure that equipment performance targets are met. In the background, Heidelberg’s suite of Prinect products provides the reporting tools necessary to continuously track this data.

Tracking data, however, is only part of the process. The Heidelberg Assistant portal is key to converting performance data into true management intelligence that can be used to make insightful business decisions.  Through this portal, customers have access to a variety of Heidelberg services and important information, including productivity and uptime reporting, invoice details, and service scheduling.  Saphira Consumables and non-serialized parts are readily available through the portal’s link to the Heidelberg eShop, where customized shopping lists help customers eliminate the guesswork of understanding what products work best with their equipment. Insight driven decision making is the result of having performance, predictive, and service support information anytime, anywhere through the Assistant portal.

The benefits of Lifecycle Solutions include decreased makeready times, increased run speeds and net output along with decreased waste – all leading to maximum profits.  The Lifecycle Team will design the right combination of products and services for each customer’s unique circumstances and manage the process together with them.  Lifecycle projects can be combined with the purchase of a new press or built around customers’ existing Heidelberg equipment.

New Business, New Business Driver
To oversee this new effort in the US, Heidelberg has appointed Steve Skeen as Vice President of Lifecycle Solutions Business Management. Steve has worked with Heidelberg for 19 years in various roles, most recently serving as Regional Vice President of Sales and Service for the South Region.

According to Skeen, “This is certainly an exciting time for Heidelberg and, more importantly, for our customers.  Our legacy in equipment and service is world-class, and we will continue to offer that same level of quality while striving to improve every day.  Now with Lifecycle Solutions, we will also take a larger and more active role in our customers’ productivity.  We can work with them to establish metrics for equipment performance and provide the products and advisory services to help them meet those metrics.  Our customers should know that their equipment is running as efficiently and productively as possible, so that they can focus on keeping it filled with work.”