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In June, Heidelberg chief Dr. Gerold Linzbach didn’t beat around the bush when it came to telegraphing his intentions for parts of the group that were described as “less strategic”.

“We have some non-core business lines or products in which we will no longer invest,” he stated. “We will look for ways to make them more profitable and operate them primarily to generate cash. Why would you allocate large resources to a business that is clearly not as attractive as your core business? Just for size or volume of sales?”

Linzbach has now answered his rhetorical question, in part at least, by implementing the biggest single restructuring move since Heidelberg offloaded its web and digital divisions in 2004. A radical re-shaping of its post-press operations will see an entire factory closed in Germany, the loss of 650 jobs worldwide and the outsourcing of the manufacturing of packaging post-press products including the Diana folder-gluer to Chinese OEM partner Masterwork Machinery. 

And, having battled against arch-rival Muller Martini for years in the saddlestitching and perfect binding markets, Heidelberg will now exit those markets entirely, with Muller Martini picking up the ongoing service business on Heidelberg’s installed kit as a result. In the commercial post-press space Heidelberg will still sell folders and cutting kit and its partnership with Polar is unchanged. It’s also worth noting that these remaining product lines, along with the packaging post-press sales and service, will mean that it still retains “the majority” of circa $308.5m in sales that was derived from post-press.

And the change at Heidelberg is not done yet. Linzbach was equally forthright about wanting to take advantage of “concrete options” to acquire, and a consumables purchase could well be next on his ‘to do’ list. “Selling products and services in the future must focus on anticipating needs.” 

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