Page 28 - Print 21 Magazine Nov-Dec 2018

Business
Wayne Robinson
Subscribing
Under the subscription model, printers install Heidelberg presses on five year contracts, and as well
as the press have their consumables (apart from paper) and servicing included in the deal. Heidelberg will work with the printer to ensure that the press is operating at optimum performance levels throughout the duration of the subscription.
The Heidelberg subscription model follows the growing pay-per-use trend in mechanical engineering, and aims to move away from growth based solely on selling and installing printing capacity.
Under the new business model, Heidelberg will no longer make
its money by supplying press components, but solely by achieving agreed productivity and growth targets. Heidelberg says the average annual cost to printers will be around €1m.
Printers will know the costs of their print production in advance, and they have one port of call for everything. Heidelberg says this makes the printer’s life easier as there is one supplier, one monthly invoice, and one phone number for any issues. The press will be continually monitored for faults
and to optimise performance. Ordering of replacement parts and all consumables is automatic, part of the industry 4.0 strategy.
Payment is worked out on a per sheet basis on an agreed monthly volume. At the end of the five years the printer can hand the press back and upgrade to the latest model, or buy it from Heidelberg.
The subscription model is at the core of what Heidelberg CEO Rainer Hundsdörfer called the ‘digital transformation’ of the company.
With the new digital business model, the equipment and all consumables required – such as printing plates, inks, coatings, washup solutions, and blankets –
and a comprehensive range of services are included in the price per sheet to be charged.
This does, though, differ significantly from the click charge model well known and used by digital press suppliers. Although these suppliers also charge per sheet, they mainly base this on their own costs, and not on the customer’s business model, which is the Heidelberg approach. Heidelberg sets a base rate on a certain target of sheets printed. If the target is exceeded, a new second
to Heidelberg
The press giant has a new way for printers to finance their presses: through subscription rather than purchase. Print21 editor Wayne Robinson looks at the concept.
Funding a new press is not as straightforward as it once was, with money much harder to come by these days. Indeed, Media Super CEO Graham Russell used the recent Print2Parliament event to tell politicians that banks have ‘virtually gone on strike’ as far as providing printers with funds for capex is concerned, and asked the politicians to challenge the financiers.
Almost all printers face funding issues of one kind or another, so the world’s biggest press manufacturer Heidelberg launched a new concept: a five-year subscription model.
Main: Available on subscription: Heidelberg offset presses
Subscribing: Fred Soar (left), CEO Soar Print, with Richard Timson, CEO Heidelberg ANZ
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28 Print21 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018