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Koening & Bauer Moves Into
Its Third
Century
When Friedrich Koenig
and Andreas Bauer
formed their company
in 1817, the two German
inventors never would have imagined
the success and innovation of their
business two centuries later. But in
2017, their family-owned business
celebrated their partnership with a
gala 200th anniversary celebration
held in late September of this year.
Th e offi cial celebration took place
in the Vogel Convention Center took
place near the fi rm’s headquarters in
Würzburg. Th e multi-day celebration of
the fi rm’s historic milestone included
plant tours, addresses by local and
national dignitaries, as well as longtime
customers, plus festivals open fi rst
to employees, and later to some 13,000
members of the public at large. Th e
celebration not only took a look at the
fi rm’s amazing 200 year history and
what it had achieved but a look ahead
to where it is going.
“From morning to evening, we meet
printed products that were produced
on Koenig & Bauer presses: from the
directly printed perfume bottle to
the newspaper at the breakfast table;
and from banknotes and credit cards
to a wide range of packaging, books
and magazines… Most of these print
products cannot be replaced by online
media or computer screens. Demand is
continuing to rise. Th is makes us optimistic
for our future,” said Chairman
and CEO Claus Bolza-Schünemann.
Celebrating its third century in business
seemed to be the perfect time to
return to the fi rm’s roots and announce
a new market launch. Th e KBA brand
will return to the original brand known
as Koenig & Bauer, honoring its founders,
but with a completely new logo,
communication media, business
equipment, and product design. At
the celebration, guests were greeted
with a 3-m. tall cast ampersand
standing at the entrance to the fi rm’s
new demo center. Th e ampersand
between the surnames of the company’s
founders was chosen as the short
form of the brand name Koenig & Bauer
and will be used when space does
not permit the use of the full logo. An
exciting new tagline, “We’re on it,” was
launched to underscore the company’s
forward-looking vision and resolve to
reach the next century mark profi tably
and still bringing innovation to the
market. It symbolizes the company’s
core values: tradition and innovation,
requirements and technologies, and
approachability and professionalism.
All new products going forward will
refl ect a new product design for the
fi rm’s presses. Currently Koenig &
Bauer AG has 33 subsidiaries. Twelve
of them produce their own products for
their own customers. Th e anniversary
was an ideal time to put all the group’s
activities from classic printing to digital
printing under a strong common roof.
During the celebration, guests had
the chance to see historical and current
printing presses in production. Th ese
included a circular motion press from
1868 printing an engraving of the
company birthplace in the monastery
Oberzell; a Super Olof Intaglio III press
printing a special 2017 banknote containing
the images of Friedrich Koenig
and Andreas Bauer in commemoration
of the 200th anniversary; the Genius
52 UV printing a security document;
the Rotajet L printing posters; and the
world’s largest inkjet press, the HP
T1100s, produced by Koenig & Bauer,
printing a 2.8-m. wide topliner for
corrugated board.
A variety of high profi le guest speakers
were on hand to congratulate the
company. Former Federal President
of Germany and former head of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Horst Köhler was the keynote speaker
and three CEOs of renowned printing
companies joined him on stage: Axel
Hentrei, CEO of the Bertelsmann Printing
Group; Hans Schur, owner and CEO
of the Danish packaging group Schur
International; and Ralf Wintergerst,
CEO of Giesecke+Devrient. In closing,
Claus Bolza-Schünemann, the current
chairman and CEO who assumed a
leadership role in the company in 1989
and is the sixth generation of the family
to lead the company, off ered his sincere
thanks to everyone who has helped
to make the fi rm such a success as it
moves into its third century. Having
been in business for 200 years, Koenig
& Bauer has certainly seen a lot of
changes in the world. And Koenig &
Bauer has made signifi cant introductions
to the printing industry.
PrintingNews.com December 2017 Printing News 13
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