Heidelberg has topped off its anniversary year by winning a renowned Red Dot Award for the Print Media Center (PMC) at its Wiesloch-Walldorf site in Germany, which has been rebranded as the Home of Print. The accolade going to Heidelberg is the ‘Brands & Communication Design 2025’ award in the ‘Retail Design – Showrooms’ category. The PMC is the world’s largest, most state-of-the-art customer demonstration and competence center for the printing industry, and its design and equipment set new standards in terms of offering a personalized customer experience. It was this that laid the foundations for winning the award.
Reopening coincides with anniversary year
When Heidelberg reopened the PMC as the Home of Print in June 2025 as part of the company’s 175th anniversary celebrations, it invited over 1,500 international guests. Customers visiting the center can see complete end-to-end solutions for packaging, label, and commercial printing in action, and can put these to the test based on their own specific requirements. The Heidelberg Prinect workflow software forms the basis for this end-to-end offering. In collaboration with partners such as MK Masterwork, Polar, CP Bourg, and Tecnau, Heidelberg is demonstrating its credentials as a systems integrator for total solutions. Presentations of all cutting-edge production technologies relating to sheetfed offset, flexo, and digital printing are available, and the Home of Print is designed in line with the company’s growth strategy for its core business.
“With the Home of Print customer experience center, Heidelberg has created a unique platform that not only shows our customers the potential of ultramodern printing technologies for their business model, but also reflects the company’s growth strategy,” says Dr. David Schmedding, chief technology & sales officer at Heidelberg. “Our customers are really impressed, and the Red Dot Award is a fantastic acknowledgment of our commitment to creating a new kind of personalized customer experience in our industry – one that we are confident will optimally meet market requirements,” he adds. The winners will be officially announced in November 2025 on the Red Dot website.
Home of Print offers customers and visitors their own unique experience
Rebranded as the Home of Print, the Print Media Center at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site of Heidelberg covers an area of 9,000 m². Each year, some 1,000 personalized presentations take place, with customers usually bringing along their own print jobs so they can thoroughly test the machines based on their specific requirements. No fewer than 120 Heidelberg experts are on hand to share their technical expertise and comprehensive application know-how, offering advice and support from the initial preparations through to the follow-up meeting after the presentations.
Throughout the year, the company also organizes open house events for German and international customers. These events focus on the key industry trends in packaging, label, and commercial printing. On top of that, Heidelberg provides around 100 guided tours of the PMC every year for visitors from brand manufacturers, schools, universities, and related sectors of industry. There are also regular training sessions for the company’s service team. Besides the Print Media Center at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site, the company also operates a global network of further customer demonstration centers in the USA, China, Japan, Indonesia, and Switzerland.
