The fresh alliance was announced today (2 June) ahead of Heidelberg’s official celebrations for its 175th anniversary.
The new Cartonmaster CX 145 is based on Manroland Sheetfed’s Roland 900 Evolution press and joins the flexo web-fed Boardmaster press for folding cartons in Heidelberg’s packaging portfolio.
The ‘class 6’ size Cartonmaster has a format of 1,050x1,450mm.
Heidelberg said it was fully integrated into its digital ecosystem, including the Prinect workflow, Heidelberg’s customer portal, and its service and consumables setup – with the manufacturer laying claim to the largest service network in the industry.
CEO Jürgen Otto said: “It’s about smart cooperation with our partners.
“Not everything is made by us, but everything is controlled by us.”
Manroland Sheetfed CEO Mirko Kern was also present, to shake on the deal along with Heidelberg CSO Dr David Schmedding.
The fresh deal joins Heidelberg’s OEM partnerships with Ricoh and Canon for digital presses, and with biggest shareholder Masterwork for die-cutting devices.
A 9,000sph Mastermatrix CSB 106 high-end die-cutter, in Heidelberg livery, will also be installed at the Home of Print. The CSB 106 was first shown at Drupa last year.
In addition, Heidelberg is adding CP Bourg and Tecnau devices to Jetfire 50 digital printing “ecosystem”.
Heidelberg and Manroland Sheetfed have been in talks since April 2024 and the first customer shipments of the Cartonmaster are expected in 2026.
Schmedding said: “We are coming back to the VLF market with a new and better approach.
“We at Heidelberg are shaping the future of sustainable packaging.”
He described the Roland 900 as “a well proven machine”.
It will be up to customers to decide whether to buy from Heidelberg or Manroland Sheetfed.
Heidelberg has 11,000 connected devices across its worldwide customer base.
Back in 2007 Heidelberg entered the VLF market – dominated by Manroland and Koenig & Bauer – and built a new VLF assembly hall at Wiesloch to make its own VLF presses. However, in 2022 the VLF products were cancelled, alongside the Primefire B1 inkjet press, in a major restructure under then-CEO Rainer Hundsdorfer.
More than 1,500 guests are attending the anniversary celebrations this week, with customers coming from all over the world.
This includes the official opening of the revamped 9,000sqm Print Media Centr, now named the Home of Print.
Otto welcomed attendees, and hailed the Home of Print as “the printing industry’s largest customer experience centre anywhere in the world”.
“We have now been the Home of Print for 175 years!”
