(Also see Ralf Schlözer’s commentary on Heidelberg here.)

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, more commonly known as Heidelberg, was founded in 1850 in Heidelberg, Germany. Coming up on almost two centuries later, the name has been synonymous with printing. In the beginning, they created letterpress machines including a high-speed cylinder letterpress and the later more popular propeller-gripper aka “windmill” automatic platen letterpress. While they stopped producing the “windmill” in 1985, 35 years ago, they have been continuing to use their engineering knowhow to innovate for over 170 years. In fact, today they have a global market share of over 40% of the installed base of sheetfed offset presses, more than the next three competitors combined.

Times change, and very few companies ride those changing waves with the same products they produced almost two centuries ago, with the possible exception of some breweries and wineries. But engineering companies by their nature are always developing something new…it is their lifeblood. It is that initiative that propels their growth day to day and through to the next century.