A study by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) confirms that 40 percent of printshops place great value on environmental protection, a message Heidelberg has promoted for 15 years.

Heidelberg made environmental protection one of its corporate objectives back in 1992. The company was the first to receive the industry’s eco-certificate for its foundry in Amstetten in 1996.

“We aim to make printing more environmentally friendly and to ensure that the public is aware of this fact,” says Dr. Jürgen Rautert, Director for Engineering and Manufacturing at Heidelberg. “However, the focus now is on minimizing the presses’ environmental impact when in use at customers’ sites. Therefore our developers are currently working on concepts that will keep environmental pollution in printshops to a bare minimum. Our Print Media Academy network also provides support for the implementation of appropriate production methods.”

If customers implement all the measures suggested by Heidelberg for environmentally-friendly production, numerous reductions can be achieved, according to Rautert. CO2 emissions generated by material consumption and printing processes can be reduced by over five percent, paper waste by up to 80 percent, energy consumption by more than 15 percent and waste by up to five percent. For the Speedmaster XL105-6+L, these reductions are equivalent to total annual savings of around EUR 210,000 – without even factoring into the calculation the savings made on the press through shorter makeready times.