Construction Underway on Heidelberg Web Press Laboratory at RIT

The latest partnership between Heidelberg and Rochester Institute of Technology has reached an important milestone. Work is now underway to create the Heidelberg Web Press Laboratory, located on the RIT campus.

Wolfgang Pfizenmaier, member of the Heidelberg Management Board and president of Heidelberg Digital, joined RIT President Albert Simone and other university leaders to celebrate the start of construction during a ceremony on Dec. 4 at RIT. The facility will house a multi-million dollar web press that the company is providing to RIT.

"We are pleased to expand a partnership with RIT that benefits our entire industry," says Pfizenmaier. "This facility will incorporate state-of-the-art web press technology within RIT’s world-renowned graphic arts program to create the best possible environment for advanced research and training."

In September, Heidelberg announced its initiative to make their latest technology available to faculty and students in RIT’s print and graphic media program. The Sunday 2000 will replace an M-1000 web press donated in 1986. The new press, valued on the market at between $7 and $10 million, will join a long list of advanced Heidelberg technology already in use at RIT.

"We greatly respect and admire Heidelberg’s leadership position in web offset printing and are thrilled to be collaborating with them on the education and management of offset printing operations," states Simone.

In addition to educational opportunities for students and the industry, RIT conducts extensive applied research on campus for web offset printers and suppliers. The university’s Printing Applications Laboratory (PAL) will be a primary beneficiary of the new press. PAL offers crucial guidance to industry managers seeking more efficient methods of operation, including the integration of electronic with traditional printing.

Completion of the new building is expected in June 2002. The Sunday 2000 web press will then be installed during the summer and is scheduled to be fully operation by September.

Internationally recognized as a leader in imaging, technology, fine and applied arts, and education of the deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology enrolls 15,000 full- and part-time students in more than 250 career-oriented and professional programs. RIT’s School of Printing Management and Sciences, considered among the best of its kind in the world, offers programs in graphic media, printing systems, and traditional and electronic publishing. Among its lead programs, RIT just launched the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, enrolling more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students in information technology, computer science, and software engineering.

For the past decade, U.S. News and World Report has ranked RIT as one of the nation’s leading comprehensive universities. RIT is also included in Yahoo Internet Life’s Top 100 Wired Universities, Fisk’s Guide to America’s Best Colleges, as well as Barron’s Best Buys in Education.

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG has 26,000 employees in over 170 countries and is the world’s market leader for printing and publishing solutions. Heidelberg offers a complete product range for the graphic arts industry covering the spectrum from prepress and press to postpress. The company develops and manufactures software, electronic prepress equipment, sheetfed, web and digital presses, as well as finishing solutions. It has a total of 18 sites worldwide and 250 sales offices, making it by far the largest sales and service network in the industry.