Profound changes announced at Heidelberg. The leading manufacturer of offset presses has just adopted an action plan to reduce its structural costs in the short term and, in the long term, improve its profitability.
Two ranges of presses stopped in 2021
Heidelberg will discontinue the production of two of its products, the Primefire 106 digital packaging press, which will be used in the future "has been growing much slower than expected." and in sheet-fed offset printing, the very large format range which "is facing a structurally declining market."
Production of these two ranges will be stopped at the beginning of 2021.
"The objective is to consistently refocus Heidelberg on its profitable business activities in order to ensure strong operational performance and long-term development even in difficult times."
A reduction of 2,000 positions worldwide
The German manufacturer will also introduce measures to rationalise production and structural costs.
Heidelberg, which does not rule out plant closures, announces that this reorganization will affect around 2,000 of the group's 11,500 jobs.
Focus on digitizing the entire graphics chain
Future investments will focus on the digital transformation of the entire graphics chain, which mainly means integrated solutions for machines, software, consumables and services.
"The idea is to create an intersectoral platform with the aim of automating the entire customer-supplier relationship. This solution will enable printers to achieve significant productivity gains across the entire chain, specifies the manufacturer.
Heidelberg expects negative net income after tax for the fiscal years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. The positive effects of this restructuring are expected to bear fruit from the fiscal year 2021-2022.
