The bestseller from Heidelberg: Speedmaster CX 104

Print Solutions

The Speedmaster CX 104 was first unveiled at China Print 2021 and has since been installed over 950 times. More than 6100 of its printing, coating, and drying units have been delivered worldwide, making it the biggest selling sheetfed offset printing press that Heidelberg has ever made, relative to its start of production. In one year, all the systems installed globally churned out a collective total of 11 billion printed sheets.

The Speedmaster CX 104 gives commercial, packaging, and label print shops access to ultra modern, cutting edge technology. It runs at a printing speed of up to 16,500 sheets per hour and can be configured as a Push to Stop press for autonomous printing supported by a range of AI based assistance systems. In this role, it processes a wide spectrum of printing substrates, ranging from lightweight papers to cardboard, which is what makes it suitable for use in both packaging and commercial printing. It also features the user oriented and ergonomic Heidelberg UX operating concept. The Speedmaster CX 104 can be freely configured as anything from a four colour system with and without coating unit to a customized machine comprising up to 20 printing, coating, and drying units. It can be equipped with the FoilStar cold foil module and the fourth generation CutStar sheeter. The longest Speedmaster CX 104 to date comprises 17 printing, drying, and coating units and is being used by a customer to manufacture high quality packaging and specialty printing products. Decades of know how and a great many components from the XL technology developed by Heidelberg have been incorporated into the Speedmaster CX 104.

The numerous customers who have opted for a Speedmaster CX 104 over recent years include many packaging printers based in Europe, the USA, and emerging markets across Asia. Countless companies have invested not just in the sheetfed offset press, but also in die cutter and folder gluer technology from MK Masterwork. This has enabled Heidelberg to harness growth potential in the packaging printing sector.

‘The Speedmaster CX 104 is our bestseller and, thanks to its flexibility and versatility, it is a favourite of many of our customers all round the world,’ said Dr David Schmedding, chief technology and sales officer. ‘The numerous investments in this press and in the post press systems offered by our partner MK Masterwork show that customers are being won over by our approach as a systems integrator for packaging printing.’