Heidelberger Druckmaschinen

49.4057444444448.6796166666667Koordinaten: 49 ° 24 ' 21 " N, 8 ° 40' 47" O

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• Gerold Linz Bach, CEO

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, usually abbreviated as Heideldruck, is a company of precision mechanical engineering, headquartered in Heidelberg (Baden- Württemberg) and the world's leading manufacturer of sheetfed offset presses, including extensive solutions for the print media industry.

Product range

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG covers the entire process and value chain in sheetfed offset printing. This chain includes not only the actual printing machine (press) devices for the exposure of printing plates ( pre-press, english pre press ) as well as for further processing of the printed sheets, ie machines for cutting, folding, gathering, gluing, stitching, binding, and cutting (post press). There are also extensive software components for integration of all costs incurred in printing processes.

The largest product range of the company is the manufacture of sheet-fed offset printing machines. The sheet-fed offset printing is mainly used for high-quality, multi-color printed products, such as catalogs, photo books, calendars, posters, packaging and labels. Thereby finishing techniques are becoming increasingly important as paints, special fragrances or unusual substrates. Modern sheet-fed offset printing machines print today up to 18,000 sheets per hour.

Since the crisis of 2008, the company is trying to develop new business outside of the printing market.

Locations

At the company headquarters in the center of Heidelberg, among others, the areas of research and development, services, marketing and sales are located. Be mounted almost all presses at 12 km south Wiesloch- Walldorf, with approximately 5,000 employees, the largest printing press factory in the world.

Other manufacturing and development sites in Germany are in Amstetten on the Swabian Alb ( foundry ), Brandenburg an der Havel (fabrication and installation of components), Ludwigsburg ( folders and mailing systems ), Kiel (software for integration of all processes in prepress, press and postpress ), Leipzig ( saddle stitcher, thread-sealing machines and perfect binders ) and Langgoens. Abroad, there are smaller production sites in Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden and the USA. As the first European printing press manufacturer Heidelberg opened end of 2006 a plant in China. In Qingpu / Shanghai about 500 employees for the Asian market place in addition to folders also manufactures printing presses in all standard format classes. At 250 locations worldwide in 170 countries, the company has more than 6,000 sales and service staff.

Overall, the company employs nearly 13,000 people worldwide. More than 80 percent of its sales from last 2.7 billion euros, the company achieved abroad.

History

Founded in 1850 Andreas Hamm in Frankenthal Pfalz the company as a bell, fire engines and steam engine factory. In 1856 he met Andreas Albert, foreman at Koenig & Bauer, know. 1861 they decided next bells and castings under the name of Albert & Hamm also to produce high-speed presses. 1896 the company moved to Heidelberg. 1905 the company name was changed to Schnellpressenfabrik Aktiengesellschaft Heidelberg. A well-known product is the Heidelberg crucible, which was produced in 1985 to 165,000 times. The plant in Wiesloch / Walldorf was opened by strong commitment from Hubert Sternberg to a year of construction 1957.

Until the early 1960s, machines were produced exclusively for letterpress printing; 1962 the company presented its first machine for offset printing. In 1967 it was renamed Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. The products have been extremely competitive. Quick, the company became the world's largest supplier by far the nearest competitor.

1988, Heidelberg took over, the new short form of the company name, web offset machine manufacturer Harris Graphics Corporation, with offices in France, the U.S. and Mexico. 1991 introduced the Direct Imaging technology, in which the printing plates are imaged directly on the press rather than in the precursor. After German reunification was begun with the production of machine components in Brandenburg. In the field of prepress, Heidelberg took over the company in 1996 Linotype -Hell AG in order specifically for the printing plate exposure so to complete its product range primarily to laser exposure. In 1999 the company took over the Office Imaging Division ( digital printing) by Eastman Kodak Company. In Qingpu near Shanghai in 2006, initially with 130 employees, a mounting for folding machines and small format printing presses opened.

In 1997, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (symbol HDD, ISIN: DE0007314007 ). After the attacks of 11 September 2001 and the associated sharp dips in the particularly important for Heidelberg advertising industry the financial year 2002/2003 was the first year in which more than 150-year history in which Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG reported a loss. In the course of several years ongoing crisis in the industry, the company ordered its new business activities. As of 31 January 2003 of the Jagenberg the area sheet punching and folding carton gluing machines, Mountain Hunting Diana GmbH in Neuss and Woschnik Partner in Mönchengladbach and a plant in Slovakia, the hunting mountain Slovensko spol. s.r.o., Nove Mesto, accepted. These companies produce machines that are required for printing and folding carton and corrugated packaging. In 2004, the Web Systems ( web offset presses ) works with, among others, in Dover (USA) and Montataire (France) was sold to the U.S. company Goss International. Heidelberg received a 15 percent interest in Goss in return. The Digital Division and the pressure that existed with Kodak NexPress joint venture were transferred back to the American partner, the closed Heidelberg Digital Finishing GmbH in Mühlhausen.

With these decisions, the expansion has been revised in new business. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG refocused on its traditional core business of equipment for sheetfed offset printing. In fiscal year 2004/ 05, the company achieved a profit again. The added value is created with an export share of over 80% largely held in Germany.

In the late summer of 2007, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG started with the production of machines for the so-called " very large format ". In this format sheets of paper are printed with a width of up to 162 centimeters. Such machines mainly for the printing of packaging that are frequently needed in large pads are used. Installation of this up to 200 tons of heavy machinery was at the Wiesloch- Walldorf site at a cost of 45 million euros specifically a 260 meter long and 135 meter wide hall built. She was also a kind of anniversary gift for the location, in the summer of this year celebrated its 50th anniversary.

After successfully completing the industry 's leading trade fair drupa in the spring of 2008, the financial and economic crisis had begun to increase in economically sensitive business of Heidelberg noticeable. In the second half of the year, orders and sales were down significantly. Under the pressure of the crisis measures have been taken to reduce costs, which should save around 400 million euro in the medium term. In this context, the company separated by around 4,000 of its nearly 20,000 employees worldwide previously. At all locations in Germany was briefly worked in 2009 and 2010. At the AGM in July 2010, the shareholders also approved by a large majority a capital increase, which resulted Heidelberg gross revenues of about 420 million euros. The debt of the company was considerably reduced, capital structure can be significantly improved.

Since April 2011, is a global strategic cooperation with the Japanese electronics maker Ricoh, in order to serve customers in the growing digital printing can. In drupa 2012, there were major changes in all areas of the company as well as the elimination of 2,000 jobs worldwide, including more than 1,200 in Germany. September 1, 2012, there was a change at the helm of the company, which has since been conducted by Dr. Gerold Linz stream. Beginning of November 2013 gave Heidelberg a global strategic partnership with the Japanese company Fujifilm known. The collaboration between the two companies is to primarily focus on developing the next generation of products for the growing digital printing market.