The value system operated by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG lays down the following principle: “We support the principle of sustainability and promote social and cultural life at our company’s sites.” How this “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR) is exercised and managed in practice is now discussed in the company’s newly published Sustainability Report 2005/2006. For Heidelberg, the world market leader in sheetfed offset, the “complete sustainability system” covers the CSR cornerstones of economics, ecology, and social commitment.Corporate Social Responsibility also means boosting efficiency and thereby ensuring long-term job security.

“The commissioning of our new production site in Shanghai, China, is an important step in this direction,” says Bernhard Schreier, CEO of Heidelberg. Up to now - particularly in the lower market segments in China - little could be done to counter national competition. Now, production is tailored specifically to the needs of this market with locally developed products. “The advantage is we can now supply our customers directly, thereby reinforcing our strong position on the growing Asian market.”

For example, the company operates a training center for printers in the Afghan capital Kabul, in collaboration with the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ, Society for Technical Cooperation). Locals learn printing skills on presses provided by Heidelberg, a project that offers people career prospects and is helping revitalize the Afghan printing industry.

Ecology plays a wholly practical and enduring role in product development at Heidelberg. All presses are developed in such a way that they save resources, such as energy and paper. Production itself is constantly optimized, with the result that, in the past year, environmental performance at many sites improved significantly, despite major increases in production. For example, water consumption at the world’s largest printing press facility, Wiesloch, fell eight percent thanks to extensive modernization measures. And this was despite a 17 percent upturn in production.