Heidelberger Druckmaschinen

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, sometimes referred to as Heidelberg or Heideldruck for short, is a German precision mechanical engineering company with registered offices in Heidelberg (Baden-Württemberg) and headquarters in nearby Wiesloch-Walldorf (Baden-Württemberg).[3] The company offers products and services along the entire process and value chain for printing products and is the largest global manufacturer of offset printing presses. Heidelberg further produces equipment for prepress, press and postpress.[4]

History

Early years (1845–1896)

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG goes back to a bell foundry founded in Frankenthal in 1774. In 1845, the bell caster Georg Hamm took over the foundry before his brother Andreas Hamm joined as a partner in 1849. The official founding date of the AG is 1850, when Andreas Hamm took over the shares of his brother, who had to flee into exile after the Revolutions of 1848. In 1851, Hamm left the company and took the bell foundry business with him.[5]

Third Reich and World War II (1931–1945)

num employees	9,591 (in March 2024) ‡R2R‡

homepage	http://www.heidelberg.com

After the collapse of Kahn's holding company, Schnellpresse continued to grow. The company suffered a serious setback for its domestic business in 1935, during Nazi Germany, when Max Amann, the president of the Reichspressekammer, issued several decrees that allowed the liquidation of publishing houses that did not conform to the system and prohibited the establishment of new printing plants. At the same time, the increased performance of the printing plants due to the more efficient machine base had a negative impact on the new press business for the first time. All of this led to a 27.6% drop in domestic sales in 1935. However, this decline in sales was compensated for by an increase in foreign sales of almost a third.[15] Despite severe disadvantages due to the restriction of press freedom, the factory was not unpopular with Nazi functionaries due to the foreign currency it generated.[16]

From 1939, the company shifted to manufacturing lathes, crucial for the war effort. It secured major orders from Magdeburger Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik and Gebrüder Heinemann, producing 1,000 precision and turret lathes worth Reichsmark 4.7 million. During that time, Schnellpresse became the first German company to manufacture machine tools on an assembly line.[17] The Geislingen plant mainly manufactured shells and bullet casings, while hydraulic units for aircraft were also produced in Heidelberg itself.[18] Although the armaments command in Mannheim demanded the discontinuation of printing press construction as early as 1940 and the procurement of materials important to the war effort, such as steel, became increasingly difficult, production continued until 1942. To compensate for male workers called up for military service, a maximum of around 150 French and Soviet prisoners of war and Ostarbeiter were deployed during the war. At this time, they made up 23% of the total workforce. The halls of the Schnellpresse factory survived the end of the war unscathed.[19]

Growth and further internationalization (1945–2000)

After the end of World War II, Hubert Sternberg became the company's new manager. He had already joined the board in 1926 and remained there until 1972. The current main plant in Wiesloch-Walldorf was opened in 1957 after a year of construction, as the main plant in Heidelberg had become too small and the resistance to the company's new building project in Heidelberg had become too strong.[20] At the beginning of the 1960s, only machines for relief printing were produced by Schnellpresse, but in 1962, the company introduced its first machine for offset printing, the Heidelberg KOR (Kleine Offset Rotation).[21] In 1967, Schnellpresse was renamed Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. In 1972, GTO (Großer Tiegel Offset) was the first offset press to deliver more than 40,000 printing units.[22] The introduction of the Speedmaster series in 1974 consolidated Heidelberg's position in the construction of offset presses. Although Heidelberg entered the offset press market relatively late, the company became the world market leader in this field within a few years.[23]

The company continued to grow in the 1980s and at times had around a third of all European machine tool bases with numerical control in operation.[24] In 1988, Heidelberg acquired the web offset press manufacturer Harris Graphics Corporation with locations in France, the United States and Mexico. In 1996, Heidelberg acquired the companies Linotype-Hell AG (laser imagesetters specifically for plate imaging), Stork Contiweb (web offset presses and ancillaries) and Sheridan Systems (newspaper mailroom and commercial bindery systems).[25]

In Hartmut Mehdorn's era as managing director, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG went public for the first time in 1997 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (under the abbreviation HDD). In 1999, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen took over the office imaging division (black-and-white digital printing) from Eastman Kodak Company as well as the company Stahl from Ludwigsburg,[26] a company that primarily manufactured folding machines and other machines for print finishing. In 2000, the Print Media Academy was opened, a high-rise building that was erected as a training and office building in Heidelberg on behalf of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen.[27]

Recent developments (since 2020)

In March 2020, Deutsche Börse announced that Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG would no longer be included in the SDAX. From 1998 until its relegation to the SDAX in 2012, Heidelberg had been part of the MDAX.[47][48]

Also in 2020, it was announced that the company's pension fund would be dissolved, freeing up €380 million, thus making it possible to reduce a large part of the company's debts (from €250 to €43 million in net debt). Previously, employee representatives had to accept that pension provision would be increasingly geared to the company's operational success. Jens Koenen commented in Handelsblatt that the company was trying to "healthily shrink" from a large corporation to a medium-sized company after "the Internet had displaced printed products" in many areas.[49]

Also in 2020, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG's subscription offer was expanded, whereby customers no longer pay for the machine used, but instead for the quantity of printed sheets.[50]

In the following years, Heidelberg presented new products: a digital inkjet printing machine called Gallus One for the production of digital labels (2022),[51] and the Boardmaster web flexo printing machine (2023).[52][53] In the financial year from April 2023 to March 2024, sales amounted to around €2.4 billion and have been described as stable.[54]

In February 2024, a cooperation was concluded between Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG and the DB Bahnbau Gruppe (the railway construction division of Deutsche Bahn) to expand charging infrastructure throughout Germany using Amperfied charging systems.[55] In May 2024, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen and Canon Inc. announced a worldwide cooperation in the areas of sales and service for inkjet printers. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen is developing a new inkjet product family under the name Jetfire, the technology of which is based on Canon printing machines.[56] In summer 2024, the company ended the temporary short-time work, that had been implemented in January of the same year due to decreased demand.[57][58]

To mark its 175th anniversary in 2025, the company organises various events. In the summer, a week of activities is held at its headquarters in Wiesloch-Walldorf in the newly redesigned demonstration centre, including an official anniversary ceremony.[59][60]

Products and machines

The company's largest product area is the manufacture of sheet-fed offset printing machines. Sheet-fed offset printing is mainly used for high-quality, multi-coloured printed products such as catalogues, illustrated books, calendars, posters, packaging and labels. Finishing techniques such as varnishes, special fragrances or unusual printing materials are increasingly utilized. Since the 1980s, the core business of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG has been sheet-fed offset printing machines and related software, despite expanding into other printing technologies through acquisitions. The company's newer product divisions are machines for packaging and label printing[69] as well as wall charging stations.[44] In addition, they manufacture folding machines for print finishing.[70] With a market share of around 40%, Heidelberg is the world market leader in its core business of sheet-fed offset printing presses as of 2018. In addition to the actual printing machines (press), the company also sells equipment for exposing the printing plates (prepress) and for further processing of the printed sheets, i.e. machines for cutting, folding and punching as well as cardboard box gluing machines (post press). In addition, they develop software components for integrating all processes in a printing company.

Since the 2008 financial crisis and increased industry consolidation within the printing industry, Heidelberg has sought new business areas, including wallboxes for electric cars, services, and consumables. The Heidelberg Industry division offers industrial customers mechanical and electric engineering services as well as casting, manufacting, assembly and electronics.[71] At the beginning of 2025, the company announced an expansion of the charging infrastructure to industrial customers. For this purpose, electrolysers, systems for the production of hydrogen, are being developed. The first prototype is due to be presented in summer 2025.[72]

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG has a 20% stake in Heidelberger InnovationLab GmbH, which was founded in 2008. The research company, whose other shareholders include BASF, SAP, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the Heidelberg University, develops applications for printed organic electronics and technologies for their industrial production.

Overview of machines up to 1919

Overview of machines from 1919 onwards

The following table provides an overview of the printing press families produced by Schnellpressenfabrik AG Heidelberg and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG after 1919:

revenue
type	Aktiengesellschaft
isin	DE0007314007
traded as	otc pink: HBGRY
foundation	1850
location	Heidelberg, Germany
products	Printing presses, platesetters, printing software
key people	Jürgen Otto (managing director and chairman of the executive board)‡R1R‡ Martin Sonnenschein (chairman of the supervisory board)
industry	Engineering, manufacturing

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen

History

Early years (1845–1896)

Takeover by the banks and Richard Kahn (1896–1931)

Third Reich and World War II (1931–1945)

Growth and further internationalization (1945–2000)

First phase of weakness and contraction (2000–2008)

Effects of the 2008 financial crisis

Entry into new business areas (2011–2019)

Recent developments (since 2020)

Locations

Products and machines

Overview of machines up to 1919

Overview of machines from 1919 onwards

Literature

Media

External links

References