Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG opts for a subscription model with Heidelberg Subscription

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, also known as Heideldruck, is the world’s leading manufacturer of sheetfed offset presses and offers versatile solutions for the print media industry. Sheetfed offset presses are used to print catalogues, posters, labels and packaging. Due to falling sales figures the company is downsizing its headquarters in 2020. Currently the company is expecting a further decline in sales and share prices are also falling.

Profile:

  • Company name: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
  • Industry: Industry 4.0
  • Formation:  1850
  • Location: Heidelberg
  • Number of employees: 11,563
  • Turnover: 2.42 billion euros (2017-2018)
  • Introduction of subscription-based model: no further information
  • Offering structure: complementary
  • Product costs: customer pays for monthly agreed print volume, without capital investment in the machine

     

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, also known as Heideldruck, is the world’s leading manufacturer of sheetfed offset presses and offers versatile solutions for the print media industry. Sheetfed offset presses are used to print catalogues, posters, labels and packaging. Due to falling sales figures the company is downsizing its headquarters in 2020. Currently the company is expecting a further decline in sales and share prices are also falling. (2020)

Heidelberg Subscription: from manufacturer to service provider

The company reacted to the falling demand for printing presses with, among other things, the Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Subscription: Heidelberg Subscriptions. With this offer customers do not buy a printing press but pay for a monthly agreed print volume. The customer pays a fixed price per month for an agreed print volume. With the Heidelberg Subscription, the company provides subscribers with the presses, workflow, consumables already matched to their needs, in-house expertise from print experts and ongoing service.

According to the company, it has already signed contracts for Heidelberg Subscription with a wide range of customers in the mid-double-digit range. The terms of the individual contracts are variable.

This is Heidelberger’s response to the changed market situation: the traditional print business continues to shrink, many medium-sized print shops have established themselves in the market and sales of printing presses are weakening.

The printing machine subscription as an alternative to purchase

For the customer, the advantage of the Heidelberg Subscription is that no capital-binding investments have to be made for printing presses. This provides planning security for subscribers. The company supplies not only the Heidelberg presses but also a complete production system for industrialised print production under the heading “Productivity on demand”.

Subscribers also do not have to worry about service, ordering spare parts or selecting and ordering replacement parts. Heidelberg Subscription also includes continuous staff training.

For Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, sales can be better planned thanks to subscription models. Instead of isolated purchases, rental income flows in regularly.

For subscription models to work, it is true in all industries that the customer must be offered added value. For its subscription model, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen promises an increase in efficiency and productivity. Through the manufacturer’s knowledge, the customer’s machines can be better maintained and adjusted via the Internet than an employee on site can.

To optimise the settings, Heidelberger primarily uses the operating data that is available to them. The individual customer then benefits from this.

Digital transformation thanks to Heidelberg Subscription

Heidelberg Subscription enables the company’s digital transformation, which is particularly challenging in this industry. The company plans to generate around a third of its total sales through Heidelberg Printing Subscription in the future. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen is also already preparing further solutions in the area of digital contract models to be presented at “drupa 2020”. The new digital business models are intended to halt the sharp decline in sales figures and losses in recent years.

In order to secure the future of the traditional company, the management is therefore focusing on new digital offerings. Even if the current figures fall short of the forecast, the digital business models should increase turnover again in the future.