Heidelberg celebrated its 175th anniversary at its factory in Wiesloch last week while celebrating hitting the sales targets for the last financial year and s string start to the new one thanks to success at the China Print trade show.
This will push sales to around €2,350 million with an operating margin of 8% the company predicts. CEO Jurgen Otto says: “Significant strategic and operational improvements have paved the way for further profitable growth. Our measures will make a substantial contribution to the expected increase in sales. Enhanced efficiency and performance will further boots our profitability.”
In the company’s report and accounts, Heidelberg says it aims to achieve €100 million in structural cost savings over the next few years. It has agreed cuts of 450 jobs from the Wiesloch factory and agreed a two-year wage freeze with staff.
This amounts to around 5% of the company’s headcount of 9,500 globally across 250 sites, including China where it operates a factory and joint venture with Masterwork to make parts. Masterwork is Heidelberg’s largest shareholder and its chairperson Mrs Li Li was in Germany to have a front line position for the anniversary celebrations and the official opening of the Home of Print, the name for what was the Print Media Centre.
Success at the China Print show will help mitigate the uncertainty caused by threatened and imposed US import tariffs. Otto confirms that Heidelberg will not be absorbing these.
Chief technology and sales officer David Schmedding says: “Thanks to the improving order situation and the positive momentum from the China Print trade show, we are expecting a better start to the new financial year than we had the previous year.
“Our new portfolio of very large format presses for packaging reaffirms our approach of gradually further expanding our portfolio in growth segments. By also incorporating automation, robotics, and software, we now offer customers integrated end to end solutions for the entire production process. Our aim as a system provider is to tap into the sizable potential in the growing packaging segment. All in all, we are therefore embarking on the new financial year full of confidence.”
It has shifted how it reports on the business in future with sales from print and packaging equipment, digital solutions and lifecycle and a new Heidelberg Technology segment. This is intended to strengthen the focus on product oriented management inline for the market and customer needs, it says.
