Today, Heidelberg celebrates 125 years of wire binding at its Leipzig site. This finishing technology is used to bind the pages of magazines, books and brochures. Its inventors, Hugo and August Brehmer, came from Leipzig. These two German brothers emigrated to the USA and after their return founded the plant at Leipzig Plagwitz in 1897. They brought with them their wire binding technology, which was to spark the first major revolution in book production since Gutenberg’s invention of letterpress printing. “Products from Leipzig like the saddlestitcher range are at the cutting edge of world technology,” says Dr. Jürgen Rautert, Technical Director at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. “Leipzig is very important to us, as it ensures us a fully competitive site in Germany’s new federal states. The products produced here, along with our workflow systems and presses, allow us to cover the complete value-added chain in the print media industry.” Heidelberg took over the plant from Stahl GmbH & Co.KG in 1999. Covering an area of 70,000 m2, the Heidelberg site today has a 24,000 m2 high-tech production and assembly facility with automatic palette racking store, computer-supported high-bay racking store and its own coating plant. The plant employs a workforce of around 300. “For us in Saxony, Brehmer is not just part of a great tradition,” says Saxony’s Economics Minister Martin Gillo (CDU). It also stands for innovative technology and a highly skilled workforce, today just as it did 125 years ago. “We have the Management Board of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG to thank for its total commitment to the Leipzig plant during a very difficult time for the industry,“ he added. Key customers for the products from Leipzig include not just SMEs, but also large companies in the print media industry that process printed sheets into finished magazines or brochures. As well as saddlestitchers and perfect binders, the site also produces thread sealing machines. The Leipzig site’s products form part of the postpress sector of the Heidelberg Group. In fiscal 2003/2004, this sector achieved sales of around Euro 360 million. This represents around 12 % of the total sales of the Heidelberg Group (Euro 3.114 billion, covering the press, postpress and financial services sectors).