A listing of Germany’s 50 most prolific patent applicants of 2008, which was published recently by the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), ranks Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) in 25th place with 191 patents granted, and thus once more as the innovation leader among the major German press manufacturers.

KBA has every reason to be proud of this ranking amidst such prominent names as Robert Bosch (1st place), Siemens (2nd), Daimler (3rd) Airbus Deutschland (19th), Porsche (20th) and Linde (37th). Now in its 192nd year, the oldest printing press manufacturer in the world remains as innovative strength as ever, as was recently confirmed in the USA. According to the Heavy Industrial Equipment Patent Scorecard™ published in the Wall Street Journal on 21 January, KBA ranked seventh in the country’s top 50 and thus achieved the second-highest position among the listed European companies behind Swiss lift manufacturer Schindler.

The focus of the KBA patents filed and granted in the fields of web and special presses in 2008 addressed new user-focussed technology for reel logistics, plate changing and the folder deliveries on newspaper presses. An additional slip-in delivery fan module provides scope for significant further enhancement of product diversity and folding quality. The new slip-in module allows high-pagination copies to be printed collect (see patent specification DE102006039981B3). The newspapers are transported almost horizontally to the folding table and subsequently directly into the delivery fan, minimising the risks of smearing even on thicker copies.

In the sheetfed sector, a host of patent applications for cutting-edge developments such as automation modules QualiTronic Mark and QualiTronic Mark-Plus for tagging imperfect sheets or even individual images directly in the press, and Plate-Ident for automated pre-registration and verification of the correct assignment of plates to printing units, underscore KBA’s image as market and technology bellwether. Besides improvements in energy efficiency and a further reduction in makeready times, numerous current innovations are geared to boosting overall productivity, for example via sheet travel.