Heidelberg will celebrate its 100th anniversary in Japan in 2026. For a century, the company has been supporting the development of the printing industry in the Land of the Rising Sun and has established itself among its customers as a reliable partner for innovation, quality, and productivity. Today, Japan is one of the most important markets from Heidelberg worldwide and consistently ranks among the company’s top five markets. The foundation of this success is the close collaboration with Japanese print shops, which for decades have set the highest standards for precision, reliability, and process quality.
In this anniversary year, Heidelberg is underscoring its commitment to the Japanese market with the introduction of a product innovation specifically designed to meet the demands of sophisticated packaging and specialty printing applications. The new double delivery for the Speedmaster XL 106 is of particular significance for the Japanese market. With this new solution, Heidelberg can appeal to even more customers in Japan and further strengthen its position.
“Over the past 100 years, Heidelberg has established a leading market position in Japan. For many decades, the country has been one of our most important markets worldwide and is also a key driver of innovation,” says Dr. David Schmedding, CSO at Heidelberg. “Japanese printing companies set the standard for quality, automation, and process reliability. The new double delivery is a successful example of how we consistently translate customer requirements into innovations. With this solution, we are strengthening our position in packaging printing while also underscoring our strategy of supporting our customers’ entire value chain as a systems integrator.”
New double delivery meets the highest customer requirements for sustainability and process reliability
The new double delivery was largely inspired by the requirements of Japanese customers and is in line with the ambition of Heidelberg to increase market share in Japan. Especially in high-quality packaging printing and in specialty applications such as pharmaceutical, security, or trading card production, the error-free finishing of every single sheet plays a crucial role. The technology automatically separates good sheets from selected quality-critical sheets, creating two dedicated stacks. This ensures that a reliable stack of good sheets is always available for further processing, while separately collected sheets can be inspected and, where appropriate, reused. Especially with high-value substrates, this helps reduce material waste while increasing process reliability and minimizing manual effort.
This solution is generating considerable interest, particularly in Japan. There, a strong “zero-defect” culture is considered a key competitive factor. Many print service providers especially in the sensitive packaging industry, invest substantial resources to eliminate even the smallest quality deviations. The new double delivery supports this requirement through automated and highly precise separation of good and defective sheets.
Double delivery makes its world debut at the Heidelberg showroom in Japan
The world premiere of the Speedmaster XL 106 with double delivery at the showroom of Heidelberg Japan therefore marks not only the introduction of a new technology but also the next step in the long-term development of the Japanese market for Heidelberg. The first systems have already been sold to customers in both Japan and Europe.
“The 100th anniversary of Heidelberg in Japan demonstrates the extraordinary continuity of our partnership with the local printing industry. The introduction of the double delivery as part of the anniversary celebration therefore holds special symbolic significance. The solution addresses precisely the quality and efficiency requirements that our customers in Japan place on their production every day. At the same time, it underscores that Heidelberg continues to invest strategically in innovation to strengthen our customers’ competitiveness in the long term,” says Jörg Bauer, president of Heidelberg Japan.
A challenging market with growth potential for the core business
In Japan in particular, the company sees considerable potential in the further automation of printing processes, the use of AI-supported production systems, hybrid printing that combines offset and digital printing, and sustainable packaging applications. The first industrial Jetfire 50 digital printing systems have now also been installed at Japanese customers’ sites.
