Azael De La Cruz · Performance Service Manager · Heidelberg Mexico · Shift

Mexico is becoming an increasingly important market for the printing industry, and at the HEIDELBERG SHIFT event, we caught up with a colleague from HEIDELBERG Mexico to discuss how quickly the market is changing.

One of the key priorities in Mexico today is performance improvement. New presses and new software bring significantly more intelligence, automation, and production capabilities than equipment from twenty years ago, but the real value only appears when customers actually use those possibilities. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, Intellistart, and autonomous production features can help improve productivity and return on investment — but only if printing companies are prepared to change the way they work.

That transformation is particularly interesting in Mexico because the market is highly diverse. Some printing companies already operate at a technological and organizational level comparable with leading companies in Europe and the US, while others are still working in a much more traditional way. The challenge for HEIDELBERG is therefore not only to sell technology, but also to help customers move from what might traditionally have been seen as graphic arts production toward a more industrial and technology-driven approach.

We also talk about Mexico’s relationship with the US and the broader global market. While domestic opportunities are growing, Mexican printers are increasingly producing for international customers and therefore need to compete at the same quality, productivity, and technology level as companies elsewhere in the world.

That is also one of the reasons for traveling all the way from Mexico to SHIFT in Heidelberg. The objective is to learn how technology, automation, AI, and new production concepts are being used in Europe, and then bring that knowledge back to Mexican customers who are increasingly interested in the same developments.

Mexico may once have been viewed by some European suppliers primarily as a market for used equipment, but that picture is changing quickly. More companies are investing in new technology — and the ambition is clearly to compete on the same level as the rest of the world.