中文Klampfer Druck, a full-service print and packaging provider based in St. Ruprecht an der Raab, Austria, has installed a Heidelberg Jetfire 50 industrial inkjet press, marking a decisive step toward hybrid production in which offset and digital each play to their strengths. Employing around 100 people across five locations and producing both high-quality commercial print and folding cartons, the company is betting that flexibility, not raw press speed alone, will define future competitiveness.
The investment arrives as Eastern Europe shows rapidly growing interest in industrial digital printing. According to Heidelberg’s analysis, the share of digitally printed volume within total commercial printing in the region will climb to roughly 44 percent by 2030, with Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic among the strongest markets thanks to their well-established printing industries. Klampfer Druck is a textbook example of that trend in motion.
Roland Spatt, head of the Eastern Europe Region at Heidelberg, said the Jetfire 50 has drawn a very positive response in the region. “With this industrial inkjet system, Heidelberg has achieved a level of productivity in digital printing that enables commercial printers to position themselves for the future in combination with offset printing,” he noted. The implication is significant: digital is no longer a compromise for short runs but a productive complement to conventional print.
For Klampfer Druck, the driver is the accelerating shift toward shorter runs and greater personalization. Managing director Daniela Klampfer highlighted how the market now demands more flexibility and faster turnarounds. The Jetfire 50, installed at the end of August, lets the company respond quickly and cost-effectively to those demands while maintaining the quality its commercial and packaging customers expect.
Technically, the Jetfire 50 operates at up to 4,560 A3 sheets per hour in duplex mode, a throughput in a different league from the toner-based digital systems Klampfer has run for years. With consistent color management in place, the company reports no discernible quality difference between Jetfire 50 and offset output, which is the prerequisite for true hybrid production. Pre-runs or initial volumes can be produced digitally, then shifted to offset as demand scales, without a visible seam.
Integration is where Heidelberg argues the Jetfire 50 earns its keep. The system connects into a print shop’s existing workflow via Prinect, and at Klampfer Druck it was seamlessly woven into a third-party workflow already in use. The company is keeping the AI-driven Prinect Touch Free option open for the next phase, which would further automate the entire process and link offset and digital in a single, minimally manual workflow.
Managing director Robert Klampfer framed the economics candidly. For runs between roughly 1,000 and 2,000 copies, the company often could no longer produce economically on toner digital or even offset. “We now produce every job on the optimal press,” he said. That single sentence captures the hybrid philosophy: match each job to the technology where it is most profitable, rather than forcing everything through one method.
The Jetfire 50 also helps address the skilled-labor shortage. Operators do not need formal printer training; at Klampfer Druck, digitally savvy prepress staff transitioned into production after brief training. The intuitive Prinect Production interface and the ability to perform certain maintenance tasks in-house push machine availability to around 90 percent, a crucial uptime figure for a commercial shop.
Heidelberg’s broader ecosystem sealed the decision. Beyond the machine itself, Klampfer valued integration capabilities, service commitment and access to a digital ecosystem spanning equipment, software, consumables, training and application consulting. Dr. David Schmedding, CSO at Heidelberg, said the installation shows how hybrid solutions meet customer needs, adding that the next innovation, the Jetfire 75, will extend the portfolio into the B2 format for even higher productivity.
For Klampfer Druck, the investment is as much about future-proofing as it is about capacity. By analyzing its job mix with Heidelberg’s support team beforehand, the company confirmed the Jetfire 50 would be utilized economically from day one. Combined with heavy prior investment in post-press and finishing, the move keeps value creation in-house and positions the firm to keep growing despite a challenging market.
The Klampfer story illustrates a wider truth: the winners in commercial printing will be those who blend technologies intelligently, not those who pledge allegiance to one. Hybrid production turns complexity from a cost into a capability, and the Jetfire 50 is Klampfer Druck’s vehicle for doing exactly that.
Source: The Packman (https://thepackman.in/klampfer-druck-strengthens-digital-printing-with-jetfire-50/)
The eastern European forecast of roughly 44 percent digital share by 2030 is a striking number, and it helps explain why Heidelberg is pushing the Jetfire 50 so hard in the region. Printers there are leapfrogging incremental offset upgrades in favor of flexible digital capacity, and Klampfer Druck is an early mover rather than a follower.
The labor dimension should not be understated. With skilled press operators scarce across Europe, a system that prepress staff can run after brief training directly addresses a structural constraint. Combined with around 90 percent availability, the Jetfire 50 turns a staffing problem into a manageable workflow choice.
Looking ahead, Klampfer’s openness to Prinect Touch Free signals where hybrid production is heading: an AI-driven workflow that routes each job to the optimal press with minimal human intervention. If that next step lands as planned, the company will have one of the most automated commercial and packaging operations in its region, a genuine competitive moat.
