colordruck Baiersbronn reaches a milestone in building its new digital business model in packaging printing

• Web-to-pack portal grows –successful completion of field testing with the Heidelberg Primefire 106
• Integration into existing workflow and production environment
• Variable data printing without any interruption in production
• Offset transfer to digital printing with high quality and color fidelity

colordruck Baiersbronn, a packaging service provider operating throughout Europe, is an all-rounder known for its very high quality standards. Right from an early stage, the company started to build itself a new business model based around digital printing and counts among their customers industrial and commercial enterprises in the food, confectionery, beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and non-food sectors. It has collaborated with Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) on numerous projects, giving rise to a decades-long partnership. Therefore, colordruck Baiersbronn was also one of the first field testers of customized digital packaging production using the Heidelberg Primefire 106. With almost all criteria successfully met and the Primefire 106 fully adapted to colordruck Baiersbronn’s web-to-pack portal, the field test was successfully completed at the end of 2019.

“Through the consistent development of a digital business model, we were also able to further optimize our processes and make them fit for the future. Heidelberg provided outstanding support as a partner in incorporating the Primefire 106 into our workflow. Wanting to offer our discerning customers new business ideas in digital packaging printing meant that our requirements for the digital printing press were very high,” says Martin Bruttel, Managing Director of colordruck Baiersbronn, in describing the initial phase. “Working with the team from Heidelberg, we have now met these requirements and are more than happy with the results for our customers.”

Variable data printing without any interruption in production

Three years ago colordruck Baiersbronn added the “Packaging Digital” division, which offers innovative packagings in runs of one and up with the online shop “designyourpackaging.de”. A very complex issue in building the new business model with the Primefire 106 was the variable data printing (VDP), the prerequisite for mass customization. “The team from colordruck Baiersbronn and Heidelberg have invested a lot of expertise and effort here, and developed VDP together. Today, the Primefire at colordruck Baiersbronn can produce an unlimited number of custom printed sheets without any interruption and in consistently high quality,” explains Tom Streefkerk, who heads up the Packaging Digital division at colordruck Baiersbronn. The Primefire 106 has been gradually integrated into the existing production workflow, with the Prinect Digital Frontend (DFE) as the link between the hardware and the software used at colordruck Baiersbronn.

colordruck Baiersbronn’s digital business model includes the web-to-pack portal and the Primefire 106 as an output system. This makes it possible to produce the most varied applications in many packaging segments. For example, the custom and personalized Advent calendar is already a bestseller among business and private customers. The company has acquired a multitude of new customers and its existing customers are impressed with its expanded services. “The Primefire offers excellent color brilliance, outstanding register accuracy, the same impressive color consistency, and very good reproducibility. Customers who attach particular importance to these criteria will have an immediate benefit,” summarizes Tom Streefkerk.

“colordruck Baiersbronn had high requirements for digital packaging printing, which we were able to meet by working together and will continue to develop together in the future,” explains Montserrat Peidro-Insa, Head of Business Unit Digital at Heidelberg. “We learned a lot on both sides and thank colordruck Baiersbronn for adding to our knowledge of digital business models.”

Offset transfer to digital printing with high quality and color fidelity

In addition to digital printing, the company also produces premium packagings using offset printing on four of the most recent generation of highly automated Speedmaster presses. Shorter runs are increasingly being transferred to digital printing to free up capacities in offset. colordruck Baiersbronn offers its customers systematic solutions for adapting spot colors in offset and digital printing. “The integration of digital printing allowed us to gain a lot of flexibility and optimize our efficiency in all run lengths. Digital printing is setting new standards in color fidelity across the entire run,” says Managing Director Thomas Pfefferle in conclusion. In addition, the B1 format of the Primefire 106 enables the company to use die-cutting tools in postpress that are also used for offset runs.

Photo caption: Positive summary: The two managing directors of colordruck Baiersbronn, Thomas Pfefferle (top row, far right) and Martin Bruttel (bottom row, center) as well as Sabrina Janta from Heidelberg (top row, far left) together with their teams learned a lot during the field test.