Heidelberg UK managing director Ryan Miles was one of the few in the know about the deal for Heidelberg to sell Canon inkjet presses, the iX3200 badged as the Jetfire 50, and the forthcoming iV7 which will be known as the Jetfire 75 when sold through Heidelberg channels.
The deal was kept secret from teams at both companies, and at Ricoh for that matter, until both made announcements on the eve of the show opening.
The ripples are continuing as implications of the deal settle in and Heidelberg gets to grips with becoming a main stream supplier of inkjet presses. “The Canon deal is positive for both parties. For us this offers the best quality and commercial value for customers. We are known and trusted by many printers and using our own DFE will give us a USP for the press,” he says. “And then when the B2 press arrives it starts to add balance to our portfolio and enables us to cover all segments in the commercial print space. And the Prinect workflow binds it all together.”
While the deal takes effect immediately, there are practical issues to tackle first. Because the deal was only completed in the last few weeks and had been kept under wraps, there has been no possibility of integrating the technology into sales, support or software programmes. These are being devised now, says Miles. Realistically it means that Heidelberg UK at least will be holding back on installations until the start of the new year.
“We have very good skills in the team and we have some inkjet experience from the Gallus products. We will need to invest in training the teams which will result in a seamless service experience for customers.”
The announcement none the less provided a fillip to Heidelberg as the show opened and ensured that both Heidelberg and Canon were much discussed across the show. It also gave staff something different to talk to customers about. This may not have been necessary as the stand was flooded with printers getting to understand both commercial and carton versions of a 21,000sph press. Stephens & George, perhaps unsurprisingly, is already experiencing this having installed the first press in the UK.
While Miles is taciturn on other deals sealed in the first week of the show, he says: “We are ahead of where we thought we would be at this stage – and we have been set some stringent targets. We are on track and are feeling quite confident for Drupa as a whole.”
