Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is in an advanced planning stage with regard to the extensive package of measures announced to sustainably improve profitability and liquidity. Important cornerstones are to be adopted before the end of the current financial year and are expected to show the first positive effects already in the new financial year. The measures include streamlining and focusing the organizational structures more strongly on customer needs and more efficient processes, selling additional non-core areas to focus the product portfolio, and restructuring the international production network to significantly reduce the cost base.
“We are gearing Heidelberg on profitable activities and are launching an innovation initiative to expand our technological leadership in our core business,” comments CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer. “This will enable us to consistently adapt to the challenging market conditions, which are currently difficult to predict not least due to the uncertain economic impact of the coronavirus in China, our largest single market.
Digitization is being driven forward – innovation initiative at drupa 2020
The goal is and remains to focus the Group on customer-centric solutions and to continue to drive forward the digital transformation. Heidelberg is making further progress in this regard. For example, the company is getting closer to its goal of increasing the share of recurring revenues from subscription offers to around one-third in the medium term. By the end of December, 13 percent of the order backlog was already based on this kind of customer projects. When it comes to innovation with a focus on autonomous, fully automatic printing, Heidelberg will be presenting a new generation of offerings at the drupa 2020 trade show in June under the slogan “Unfold your Potential”. One example is the popular Speedmaster model with new “Plate to Unit” printing plate logistics to further improve both cost-effectiveness and competitiveness in offset printing. Initial customer orders in this profitable core business of the Group have already been received. Heidelberg is convinced that the enhanced product portfolio will enable it to further extend its market and technology leadership in future-oriented software-based applications, intelligent user guidance, and autonomous processes of integrated solution systems (“Smart Print Shop”).
