Swiss manufacturing giant Muller Martini has acquired the binding and bookline business of Germany-based Kolbus.
Swiss manufacturing giant Muller Martini has acquired the binding and bookline business of Germany-based Kolbus.
The deal includes Kolbus perfect binders, hard case lines and related equipment, as well as the service and spare parts business for all Kolbus bookbinding systems installed worldwide, including Australia and New Zealand.
Roman Beeler, head of sales for Muller Martini Australia, said the deal had just been announced in Switzerland and few other details were yet available: “It’s very early days yet and we have to wait and see.” Kolbus bookbinding equipment is currently distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Print & Pack.
Kolbus will continue to be headed up by chief executive Kai Büntemeyer, who says the company will “vigorously expand” its packaging business and continue to focus on case making, parts manufacturing and its foundry business.
In a media statement announcing the acquisition, Bruno Müller, CEO of Muller Martini, said: “Structural change has changed the graphic arts industry in recent years and our market has become much smaller and versatile at once.
“The market changes are directly affecting our customers, who are faced with new business models like digitization. By combining the potentials for success like personnel, know-how, technology and infrastructure of the two companies, Muller Martini can provide the market with innovative solutions in the long term.
“This secures the future of the softcover and hardcover business of both the customers and the two machine manufacturers – and thus also jobs in the graphic arts industry.”
The Kolbus bookbinding business will be transferred to the new business unit Müller Martini Buchbinde-Systeme GmbH, which will be integrated into the Muller Martini group as an independent factory in Rahden.
About 250 Kolbus employees from the bookbinding department will be transferred to the Rahden factory while 900 staff in the packaging and case maker segments will continue to work for Kolbus.
Muller Martini, a family business founded in 1946, has 1800 employees active in the development and production of industrial system solutions for print finishing. A full range of graphic arts publications, from softcover and hardcover books through to magazines, catalogues, mailshots and newspapers, is produced worldwide using Muller Martini systems.
Kolbus GmbH & Co. KG, established in 1775, has its headquarters in the eastwestfalien town of Rahden and has three more sites in Gerabronn, Krostitz and Kalamazoo (Michigan).