The firm, which became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Heidelberg in 2014, unveiled the new model at an open house at its Swiss facility this week.

The new Labelmaster press uses a modular platform design, like the Speedmaster, and is targeted at label and packaging printers.

Stephan Plenz, Heidelberg board member for equipment, said the Gallus and Heidelberg operations had “harnessed a great many synergies” in its development.

“A modular design and a reduction in complexity benefit both sets of customers, sheetfed and label market, and make them more competitive,” he stated.

The initial Labelmaster has a web width of 440mm although wider models are in the pipeline. It runs at 200m/min.

Pricing was not disclosed.

An unnamed customer is currently field testing the press ahead of it becoming commercially available in Q2 2017.

Three Labelmaster models are planned: basic, plus and advanced to encompass different configurations and levels of automation. It is aimed at high quality applications.

The modular design includes a new locking system that Gallus claimed would ensure “100% register accuracy” when changing printing units over.

Gallus said that its existing ECS 340 label press is the best-selling conventional label printing system in its class.

Picture shows: Gallus Group chief executive Klaus Bachstein; former Gallus owner and now Heidelberg shareholder and Gallus vice president Ferdinand Rüesch; and Stephan Plenz.