The world’s oldest press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) is celebrating its 200th birthday with a week of celebrations in Germany.
The anniversary is a remarkable achievement for any manufacturer, let alone one in the printing industry. In Australia KBA has operated as a direct subsidiary, with some major successes, for the past 15 years, prior to that it was represented by various agents.
Founders Freidrich Koenig and Andreas Bauer manufactured the world’s first newspaper press, for the London Times in 1814, and established their company in Germany three years later, 1817, a quarter of a century before the beginning of the machine age in Germany.
The duo were in London as it was a more advanced country, and they were able to raise the money to build their double cylinder steam powered press there.
Little over 50 years later the factory produced its 2000th press, and has been manufacturing presses ever since. The company still operates from its original Wurzburg base. Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall it bought the Planeta business in Dresden in 1991, the previous year it had become KBA as it joined with the Albert-Frankental Group.
At the celebrations former Federal President Horst Köhler was the main speaker, with short presentations also given by three non-K&B CEOs representing big German print companies.
KBA says, “Many customers and business partners visited the spruced-up main factory in Würzburg and experienced historical and modern printing presses in action. The week of celebrations had begun with an international press conference at which the company, which has successfully adapted to a changing print market, presented its ambitious goals and strategies for the future, as well as its new market appearance.”
In his welcoming speech to the guests Claus Bolza-Schünemann, CEO, KBA dealt with the history of the company, which is closely linked to that of his own family. He thanked generations of customers, executives and employees for their contributions through economic crises, wars and technological transformations.
Bolza-Schünemann says, "Print has been keeping our company and its employees moving for 200 years now. Even in a digitalised world, it is always an exciting task finding new technologies, solutions and applications for print with which our customers can continue to be successful."
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