KBA takes over Kammann Maschinenbau

Koenig & Bauer (KBA) has continued its work to expand into markets with growth potential after the acquisition of screen printing specialist Kammann Maschinenbau.

The world’s second largest press manufacturer is looking to counteract the shrinking sales volume of web presses in commercial printing with this strategy. It has already made a move into the flexible packaging market in 2013 as part of this strategy, with the planned takeover of Italian press manufacturer Flexotecnica.

It has now purchased 85 percent of Kammann from private equity firm Perusa. Kammann’s two managing directors will continue to hold the remaining 15 percent stake.

Kammann is the world market leader in screen printing systems for direct printing on glass containers, but which are also applicable for plastic and metal containers. It also produces presses for web printing and direct printing onto optical discs, such as CDs and DVDs.

Along with screen printing, Kammann’s transport systems can be equipped with hot stamping, digital printing and decorating processes. Further, the company has a substantial service business.

The design and assembly of Kammann machines will remain at its existing facility in Bad Oeynhausen. Manufacturing of parts is mostly outsourced today and this will be the case in the future. Some parts could be manufactured in other KBA facilities but only if these facilities can compete on price with external sources.

Directly decorated glass containers are mainly used for high-end cosmetics, perfume and alcoholic beverages.

KBA said premium glass packaging is a growing business, even in threshold countries such as China, Brazil and Russia, and is seen as a means of differentiation. It is also gaining importance as a status symbol compared to cheaper alternatives. Market forecasts predict above-average growth for this segment.

From a process point of view, direct printing with high-quality screen printing systems is the most challenging and costly finishing method due to the mechanic handling of different forms of glass containers. These technological demands prevent newcomers from entering this luxury segment, which is serviced by very few manufacturers.

While direct printing of containers is a new territory for KBA, the group is already well-established in some areas of label printing and other packaging forms.

Read more about metal decoration in the latest issue of Packprint World

Read more on screen printing here