Koenig & Bauer completes double century, rearing for a third

During the function, Claus Bolza-Schünemann, CEO, Koenig & Bauer, took the guests through the milestones the company achieved in the last 200 years, including the acquisitions the company made in the last 25 years.

“Today, the world’s second-largest printing press manufacturer offers solutions for almost all print markets, Bolza-Schünemann said. “From morning to evening, we meet printed products that were produced on Koenig & Bauer presses: from the directly printed perfume bottle in the bathroom in the morning, the newspaper at the breakfast table, banknotes, credit cards and a wide range of packaging when going shopping, to books or magazines in the evening. The best thing about this is that most of these print products cannot be replaced by online media or computer screens, and the demand is continuing to rise. This makes us optimistic for our future.”

Koenig & Bauer achieved the best result in the company’s long history in 2016, with an EBIT of 87.1 million euros. The increase in the share price from 10 euro at the beginning of 2015 to significantly over 60 euro now reflects the company's convincing strategy and development.

Going ahead, Bolza-Schünemann said the focus for third century will be on ‘new products and growth markets’.

The occasion was also an opportunity for the guests to visit the company’s parent plant. In addition to the production facilities and the new demo centre for digital and flexo printing presses ‒ soon to be equipped with machines ‒ visitors also experienced historical and current printing presses in production from the broad portfolio of the oldest printing press manufacturer.

A circular motion press from the year 1868 printed an engraving of the company’s birthplace, the monastery Oberzell, a Super Olof Intaglio III press printed a specimen banknote, the Genius 52UV from KBA-NotaSys printed a security document, the digital web press RotaJET L. And the world’s largest inkjet press, the HP T1100S, produced for HP by Koenig & Bauer, printed a 2.8m topliner for corrugated board.

The Koenig & Bauer facility in Wurzburg, Germany

Looking ahead

Dr Mathias Dähn, chief financial officer of the company, presented the corporate goals and strategies for the years to come. “After a decade of declining sales, growth has become the central pillar of our corporate strategy. All business units should contribute to this and work profitably. We have zero tolerance policy for non-profit making entities,” Dähn said.

Koenig & Bauer wants to improve its market share further in flexible packaging printing, corrugated board printing and the marking and coding sector. New products such as the Varijet 106 digital hybrid press featured at Drupa last year as well as digital, flexo and offset presses for corrugated board, metal sheets and beverage cans are intended to contribute to this.

Bolza-Schünemann announced the order of the first digital Corrujet sheetfed press for corrugated board from a German customer. A further example of the expansion strategy on the packaging market is the purchase of the Spanish die-cutter manufacturer Iberica in July 2016.

Dähn described the cooperation with HP in digital inkjet printing for the corrugated board segment as successful and future-oriented.

A young but expanding business area is that of industrial applications such as decorative printing, which Koenig & Bauer successfully addresses with the Rotajet VL, which is up to 2.25 m wide. On account of the drop in demand for new presses in the business with web offset presses for newspaper and commercial printing, the Würzburg company now plans to expand its services to cover older presses.

New services have also been offered within the framework of digital transformation (KBA 4.0). The service turnover for sheetfed and web presses has grown significantly and is expected to rise to 30% of group turnover.

According to Dähn, the Koenig & Bauer Group has set itself a goal for the anniversary year of 2017, with a group turnover of approximately 1.25 billion euro and an EBIT margin of around 6 %. The planning for the period up to 2021 provides for a growth in sales of 4 % per annum and - depending on the development of the world economy - an annual EBIT margin between 4 % and 9 %.

Relaunching the brand  

The printing press manufacturer is starting off the company’s third century with a new market appearance. As the CEO explained, the brand KBA, which was introduced in 1990 after the takeover of Albert-Frankenthal, will revert to the original brand of Koenig & Bauer, albeit with a completely new look for the logo, means of communication, business equipment and product design.

 Claus Bolza-Schünemann, CEO, Koenig & Bauer

Bolza-Schünemann said, “Koenig & Bauer today has 33 subsidiaries. 12 of them produce their own products for their own customers. We see the company anniversary as an ideal time to place all activities of the Group, from classic printing to digital printing - including prepress and post-press and top service - under a strong common roof again.”

The company’s new tagline will read ‘we’re on it’, while the company logo will be the ampersand between the surnames of the founders of the company. Bolza-Schünemann said, “Our mission is to bring together what moves our customers forward.”