The manufacturer's German HQ announced plans to offer a new pay-for-performance subscription offering earlier this month.
However, the UK business has not opted for the full-blown subscription model, which would involve Heidelberg retaining ownership of the press.
Heidelberg UK managing director Gerard Heanue said that because high-performance UK printers were already world leaders in terms of press productivity, the UK approach would be different.
"We really sweat the assets here in the UK, so the full subs model probably doesn't fit in the UK market," he explained.
Instead, Heidelberg UK will offer a "subs lite" package called Impression Plan. It will only be available on two presses: its new compact B2 press the Speedmaster CX 75, and the new SRA1 Speedmaster CS 92. Both presses run at 15,000sph and are being shown for the first time in the UK at its open house in Brentford today (21 February) and tomorrow.
Via Impression Plan customers can buy a CX 75 or CS 92 press at a discount of up to 30% on the usual street price, in an arrangement that involves taking out a five-year contract on consumables and service and a defined minimum impression volume.
The package includes tailored consumables, a full service contract, six days training per year and an agreed Prinect workflow.
The likely cost per impression varies from 1.8p per sheet for a press producing annual impressions of 12 million, reducing to 1.3p for a press doing more than 15 million impressions per annum.
Heanue said Heidelberg aimed to win back market share from Komori and Ryobi with the two new press models.
"We have lost a bit of market share in these areas. With Impression Plan customers can afford a Heidelberg, they can have a package of consumables that has been tested, and a press that is easier to finance and has a good residual value.
"Customers have peace-of-mind and a fixed cost per sheet they can work with. After five years they will own the press and be under no obligation to buy consumables from us. Obviously we hope they will be swapping it out for something new from us," Heanue added.
Ball park pricing (without Impression Plan discount) for a four-colour CX 75 is around £550k, with a four-colour CS 92 priced from £700k.
He said Heidelberg had explained the new offering to two finance providers that were "very happy about it, because after 60 months of service contract the residual value will be higher", and said Heidelberg expected to sign up the first Impression Plan customers "very soon".
"We have identified a number of potential customers and they're coming to the open house to discuss it."
The CX 75 is being shown in a five-colour plus coater configuration with Easy Control spectral colour measurement; while the CS 92 model is a four-colour, also with Easy Control, and LED-UV drying. Both presses can be configured with conventional, UV, LED-UV, or LE-UV drying.
The CS 92 has a 650x950mm sheet size and can produce nine-up jobs, for example 6pp A4 folded.
More than 170 visitors are expected to attend the open house today.
