Heidelberg is taking the digitization of its customer relationships incorporating useful value-added services to the next level. ‘Heidelberg Plus’ is the new gateway to Heidelberg’s digital ecosystem, which customers can enter with a single login and access all of Heidelberg’s digital offerings. Future applications will make use of cloud technologies, IoT, Big Data, and AI to offer customers added value when it comes to running their companies.
As part of Innovation Week 2021, which took place from 13 to 15 October at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site under the slogan ‘Always a Step Ahead,’ Heidelberg was showcasing Prinect Print Shop Analytics, the first cloud-based Prinect app offered through Heidelberg Plus that will become available to customers in the course of the coming year. This is a tool that enables users to determine the current performance of a print shop based on real-time data from the most important KPIs.
Monitor KPIs in real time
Many print shops still control their processes using outdated data and only have limited access to their current KPIs, which makes it difficult to quickly optimize many processes. Prinect Print Shop Analytics offers an integrated solution that records evaluates and monitors the KPIs of a print shop in real-time to optimize production by suggesting concrete courses of action with the help of artificial intelligence. Customers can access it via Heidelberg Plus with an integrated user interface and single sign-on authentication. All generated dashboards, with the corresponding analytics and recommendations, are available to all authorized users at any location on their computer, tablet, or smartphone, as required. There is a notification system in place here that actively alerts the user to any problem areas.
“With the first Prinect app available in Heidelberg Plus, our Heidelberg digital ecosystem is gaining momentum, and the customer benefits of digitization are becoming increasingly apparent,” says Ludwig Allgoewer, global head of sales and marketing at Heidelberg. “Market surveys have shown that our customers urgently want the functions of an app like Prinect Print Shop Analytics that they can use to quickly boost efficiency while systems are running, and also reduce costs at the same time.”
Developing in collaboration with customers
In order to make the app ready for the market as quickly as possible, while also offering the desired practical functions, Print Shop Analytics is being developed as part of a joint project between Heidelberg and Pinguin Druck in Berlin:
“Collaborating with Pinguin Druck is having a very positive effect on the user value of the very first cloud-based Prinect app,” says Christopher Berti, head of software solutions at Heidelberg. “This approach ensures that the functions we include in the app reflect actual market demands.”
“Print Shop Analytics is becoming a game-changer in our day-to-day work,” says Alexander Mende, managing director at Pinguin Druck. “I will now be notified immediately by Print Shop Analytics if one of our printing presses fails or the print shop misses its targets. These notifications are set according to my personal preferences and I can see the detailed data immediately. This feature and the recommended courses of action the tool suggests helping me make the right decision to promptly solve a problem.”
Heidelberg Plus
With Heidelberg Plus, the company is combining existing digital applications with new services for customers. In the future, a single point of access is all users will need for a complete overview of all the digital tools and services in the Heidelberg portfolio. This will make it quick and easy to obtain information, purchase items (eShop), and monitor their business. Over 1,800 print shops already use Heidelberg Assistant (HDA) to access their production data. To obtain the relevant services, they need to be registered or have purchased specific services as a contract customer.
What is already impressing users more than anything is the option of using mobile devices to monitor machine operation, purchase consumables, or create service tickets. Regular HDA users range from large businesses with sites located in dozens of different countries to SMEs with just one site. “Key elements of the Heidelberg digital ecosystem such as HDA and the eShop have already developed very encouragingly,” explains Allgoewer. “By merging these and other existing applications, and also integrating new ones, we will further enhance the benefits for our customers.”
The company recently unveiled the new gateway to the HD digital ecosystem “Heidelberg Plus” to the public at the China Print trade show this past summer. The tool is now set to be showcased at the Print Media Center in Germany as part of Innovation Week 2021.
