New Heidelberg UK managing director Ryan Miles aims to make the business even more customer-centric, to offer new business models, including subscriptions, and to maximise Industry 4.0 / Internet of Things opportunities.
Mr Miles, who took up his post on 1 April, plans to build on the German press manufacturer subsidiary’s reputation for sales, service support and customer satisfaction. ‘We want to understand our customers even better and look at how we can add value to their business,’ he said. ‘I am in listening mode and hope to meet with many customers in the coming months, to hear how they see their company and the UK trade as a whole evolving and to discuss how we might partner them.’
This includes acknowledging a broader trend towards subscription-based models, in both consumer and business environments. Mr Ryan suggests that high productivity customers may be attracted to a subscription model because it allows them to standardise and to call off consumables just in time to minimise stock-holding, and to have support services on tap. For those who do not perform as well as their peers the subscription model might also provide consultancy and support to become more competitive.
‘There isn’t just one subscription model fits all but there are variations, tailored to the needs of the customer. It might not include machines in some instances, for example. It could just cover ‘lifecycle’ products by which I mean spare parts, consumables, services, training and consultancy,’ Mr Ryan added.
This approach continues the logic of the subscription-based model for new litho presses announced in February 2018; it is not clear to what extent this model will be offered for Heidelberg’s digital press offerings, including the two Versafire SRA3-plus sheet-fed models introduced in April 2018 and the Omnifire 106 B1 press which also reached the market last year.
The Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 capability will come in the form of Heidelberg Assistant, likely to be rolled out in the UK in the next year. This is an online portal which customers can access from via a web browser. It gives access to relevant plant data, providing machine status and performance data, plus online shopping for spare parts, consumables and service support.
This will be fed into Heidelberg’s Big Data, which collects on machine performance information, allowing benchmarking to help printers achieve the optimum overall equipment efficiency. The service will be offered via the subscription model.
