Heidelberger Druckmaschinen - (The famous printing company in Heidelberg, Germany.)

Since Heidelberg developed the NTC, the New Technology Centre at the main plant in Heidelberg, Germany. Understanding of new technology and the additional peripherals that have been added to the print presses has grown enormously. This is due in main to the incorporation of a print press from the Speedmaster range. This print press has been “cut away” to show the internal workings of the print press. Staff have been able to show potential customers all the new features of the print presses and explain the functionality with a lot more ease than trying to explain with new technology with photographs or plans.

This original Speedmaster “cut away” from the NTC in Heidelberg was also used at last years Drupa exhibition in Dussledorf, Germany. It proved to be a great success. The Speedmaster “cut away” permanently resides in Heidelberg and as you can imagine with such a large machine, it cannot easily be moved around the Europe due to size and cost restraints. To solve this problem and create something as complete as the life size “cut away” creative images together with Heidelberg Druckmaschinen created the NTC Ultra light system. This is a 1:1 printed system that stands up to 2 metres 70 centimetres in height. It is a fabric print that is stretched over 11 individual frames and spans a length of over 13 metres.

This Ultra Light System (ULS) as the name suggests can be used all over the world at exhibitions to illustrate and help the explanation of information and technology to customers by the staff at the Heidelberg exhibitions and conferences. The ULS is today at the time of writing in Jyväskylä, Finnland at the Finngraf 2009 trade show.

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Firstly a very complex and detailed drawing needed to be created here at creative images. We decided to make our illustration a 3-dimensional one. We knew that later we may need to have many different views of the machine and perhaps even create working videos of which could be made at a later date.

During completion of the illustration, the frame had to be constructed, especially built from a lightweight aluminium structure. Once the panels were constructed the fabric prints (11 of them) could be stretched over each panel. Each panel butts up against the next and is then screwed into place. Once all frames are in position the fabric panels can be hung in place.  (see pictures above)