Heidelberger Druck, by contrast, charges a flat fee-for-service, which can be cheaper for most commercial printers and less hassle.

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That kind of premium business is what a mainstay of the old printing industry--Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, a low-profile, 152-year-old German press manufacturer--is after.

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Its telecoms and chemicals businesses have been sold, and it will probably dispose of its stakes in Hochtief, a construction company, and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, a printing-machine manufacturer, in the next few years.

ECONOMIST: Water industry

"We have a clear customer focus, which is: People who want to make money in print, " says Bernhard Schreier, Heidelberger Druck's 47-year-old CEO, over breakfast at the art deco corporate cafe in Heidelberg.

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But Heidelberger Druck has a comfortable market share of 40%--twice its nearest rival--of the machines that are responsible for printing such things as Vogue's fashion layouts and unlit Coca-Cola signs (and the European edition of this magazine, too).

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