Nine months before the official ceremony to mark the 200th anniversary of Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) in September 2017, the foundations were laid in January at the company’s Würzburg parent plant for a new digital and flexographic press demo centre. On 14 March KBA chairman Claus-Bolza-Schünemann and Christoph Müller, CEO of the subsidiaries KBA-Digital & Web Solutions AG & Co. KG and KBA-Flexotecnica S.p.A., who will rent the demo centre from the holding, laid the foundation stone of the new building.
With a usable area of around 2,100 sqm, large modernized premises and investment totaling a six million EUR (6.4 million USD), the building project is the latest in a series of new buildings at the Würzburg site, following a new logistics centre and design building in 2001, two new production halls in 2003 and 2008, and a new foundry in 2012.
As counterpart to the demo centre for sheet offset presses and processing systems at Radebeul in Saxony, the new demo centre in Main-Franconia will feature a RotaJET digital printing press for commercial, publication and decor printing, a flexo rotary press from KBA-Digital & Web Würzburg’s Italian subsidiary KBA-Flexotecnica cooperating on flexible packaging, and a newly developed sheetfed flexo press from KBA-Digital & Web for direct printing on corrugated cardboard. The centre is due to be ready for occupancy in autumn 2017. Aside from customer demos, testing new developments is also planned.
In the presence of Würzburg’s mayor, Christian Schuchardt, members of the group board, the architect, contractors and other guests, Bolza-Schünemann drew attention in his opening speech to the contraction of media-focused print markets and the successful realignment of KBA Group concentrating on growth sectors like packaging, digital and industrial functional printing. 70 % of the group’s new press revenue is generated in the booming packaging sector. The group headquarters in Würzburg was chosen as the site for the new demo centre to provide suitable, conveniently situated presentation facilities with easy access to Frankfurt International Airport for customers from expanding markets.
