ROLAND 700 presses are an important part of the company's history

Wanfried-Druck Kalden GmbH in the North Hessian town of Wanfried in Germany has good reasons to celebrate: it has been a successful printing company for 150 years. It is still managed by the Kalden family, whose ancestor Peter Israel founded it as a bag and pouch factory on 11 April 1861.

A pioneering spirit was always evident in Wanfried: for instance in 1911, one hundred years ago, the very first offset press in Germany, an English model, was installed here. This was followed in 1973 by the country's first UV drying machine. Even now, the company faces the future with confidence. "We are planning to invest in a new manroland press to increase our capacity and relieve the strain on our existing machine park," says Wolf-Arthur Kalden, Managing Director of Wanfried-Druck Kalden. "Our oldest ROLAND 700 that was installed in 1996 has meanwhile printed 500 million sheets," adds Klaus Kalwinsky, who until 1 March 2011 was Print Production Manager and is now Job Controlling Manager. "This record number is a fine symbol for the very close and trustful cooperation between our two companies that goes back for decades," says Christian Baumann, Managing Director of Heinrich Baumann Grafisches Centrum in Frankfurt, manroland's Sales & Service Partner for Hesse.

At present, the printing machine park consists of three ROLAND 700 presses that since 2007 have been running in a new production hall on the 17,000 square meters company-owned property. They produce labels and packaging made from paper and carton for the food, pharmaceutical, and tobacco industries, and also for the non-food sector. Customers come from Germany, France, and the Benelux countries, but also from Eastern Europe and Russia. Over its 150 years, the company has experienced some most different developments and always responded positively to the changes. The road led from letterpress through lithographic printing to a modern offset printing concern that possesses quality, environmental management, and hygiene management certifications, and that has digital prepress and comprehensive finishing operations. Between 2006 and 2010, Wanfried-Druck belonged to Arques Industries AG. As this company was reorganized to move into telecommunications, a buy-back transaction saw Wanfried-Druck become a family-owned company once again – and a very successful one at that: "Our order books are full," says Wolf-Arthur Kalden. "And with around 180 employees we are the largest local employer."