HEIDELBERG, MK Masterwork Celebrate 10 Year Partnership
Global packaging and printing technology company Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (HEIDELBERG) and Chinese manufacturer of printing and packaging equipment MK Masterwork, agreed on a strategic sales partnership ten years ago. As part of this deal, HEIDELBERG distributes high-performance die-cutters as well as folding carton gluers and hot-foil stamping machines from MK Masterwork outside of China.
Since then, HEIDELBERG has installed around 1,500 systems produced by MK Masterwork at customer sites around the world. At a recent joint anniversary event at MK Masterwork’s headquarters in Tianjin, with around 100 international customers, both companies looked back on the milestones of their long-standing successful partnership, and simultaneously on their shared future.
HEIDELBERG and MK Masterwork signed an agreement to extend and expand their cooperation in the field of integrated and highly automated complete solutions, which can also be developed in collaboration with customers. This also includes the integration of MK Masterwork’s robotics systems, which are becoming increasingly important for packaging manufacturers, particularly for intralogistics. In many companies they make an important contribution for a higher productivity and a further reduction of personnel costs.
“Packaging printing is a central component of our growth strategy for our core business. Our cooperation with MK Masterwork is a long-standing success story. We are now renewing and expanding this strategic partnership, thereby underlining our approach as a system integrator for end-to-end packaging production. We offer our customers efficient complete solutions and at the same time tap into further potential in the attractive segment of packaging finishing,” says Dr. David Schmedding, Chief Technology & Sales Officer at HEIDELBERG.
“Thanks to our innovative and economical technologies, MK Masterwork has continued to grow dynamically in recent years and has already become the market-leading provider of packaging finishing solutions in China,” says MK Masterwork President and Managing Director Li Li. “Together with a strong partner like HEIDELBERG, we have succeeded in advancing to become one of the leading providers in this segment worldwide. Together, we will continue to expand our strong market position.”
Ten Years of Partnership
In 2015, HEIDELBERG became the sales channel for MK Masterwork products outside China. In 2020, both companies established a JV for the development and production of precision machine parts for the HEIDELBERG plant in Shanghai.
The current year saw the presentation of the updated MK Mastermatrix 106 CSB high-performance die cutter with Prinect integration in HEIDELBERG design, marking a major step toward automated end-to-end production in packaging printing.
To date, HEIDELBERG has successfully installed around 1,500 MK Masterworks systems worldwide. Both companies are also renewing and expanding their strategic partnership to offer integrated and highly automated complete solutions for packaging production.
