German President Rau awards Commendation for the German
Design Prize to Speedmaster CD 74 from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen
AG
At the International Frankfurt Trade Show today, German
Federal President Johannes Rau awarded the 2002 German Design
Prize. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) received a
Commendation for its Speedmaster CD 74. This was presented to
Chairman of the Management Board Bernhard Schreier. "Our customers
are media service providers, whose clients insist on both high
print quality and sophisticated product esthetics. This is why we
offer a refined product design and - most importantly - a
user-friendly product", explained Mr. Schreier.
The German Design Prize is Germany's top design award and is
bestowed by the German Design Council on behalf of the Federal
Ministry for Economics and Technology. The success of the
Speedmaster CD 74, a sheetfed offset press for packaging and
commercial printing, was helped by the fact that the press had
already won last year's "Top 10 Award" from the Design Industry
Forum in Hanover, and had been nominated for the Federal Prize by
the Baden-Württemberg Economics Minister Dr. Walter
Döring. A previous design prize and a nomination are required
for participation in the German Design Prize competition.
This is the first time a commendation has ever been awarded
to a printing press. A total of 19 out of 321 nominated products
received the award. The panel of judges, which was made up of
prestigious names from the worlds of industry, commerce, design,
media and academia, awarded three prizes and 16 commendations. The
judges awarded marks for design quality, usability, technical
qualities and the product's overall concept. These products will be
on display in Hall 4.1 at the Tendence consumer goods trade show,
which is being held from August 30 through September 3 in
Frankfurt.
Design is a success factor for Heidelberg
Heidelberg has evolved from its days as a press supplier pure
and simple and is now a total solutions provider. This transition
was unveiled to the public at the drupa 2000 print trade show with
a new corporate product design. The corporate design is modern and
innovative, and supports Heidelberg's brand values, which are
proximity to the customer, reliance and strength. The most
striking aspect is the colors and design elements used. On the
presses, which are mostly colored Heidelberg gray, technical
elements are highlighted with a silvery "mica" color. Heidelberg
blue is used throughout for product names on the press. In addition
to all these style elements, Heidelberg has also defined a "fifth
element" - emotion. Integrated handgrips on the Speedmaster series
lend elegance to the design, while glass and lights on the prepress
platesetters create a truly digital feel. Dynamism is created
through the use of angled side elements. Heidelberg's designers
predict that the design factor will also play a significant role in
customers' decisions to buy Heidelberg products.
Heidelberg's product designers have amassed more than twenty
awards since 1990. In this year alone, they have won three major
prizes, including the "reddot award - Product Design 2002", awarded
by the North Rhine - Westphalia Design Center for the Quickmaster
DI Pro digital offset press and the Mainstream 80 newspaper rotary
press, and the I.D. Annual Design Review - America's top design
award - for the Topsetter platesetter.
Speedmaster CD 74 - versatile and flexible
The Speedmaster CD 74 prints in the A2 mid-range format (four
A4 pages per print sheet) and is also ideal for packaging and
commercial print shops. The entire production process is highly
automated, flexible and runs extremely efficiently. This press is
ultra versatile and supports a whole raft of applications. It can
print anything from thin papers to cardboard, and even plastic.
This facilitates the production of labels, high-quality cosmetics
and medication packaging, or plastic cards and tags. There are now
more than 200 presses installed worldwide. This is a success story
that speaks for itself, since the Speedmaster CD 74 was only put
into series production at the end of 2000. Since the spring of this
year, the Speedmaster CD 74 has also been available with a UV
option. This enables printers to achieve a range of different
finishing effects, for example using gold or silver coatings. The
press can be supplied with four, five, six and eight printing units
and a coating system in both the standard and UV versions.
For further information:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Corporate Communications
Hilde Weisser
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 50 66
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92 50 46
E-mail:
hilde.weisser@heidelberg.com