KBA realignment to bear fruit in 2015

In his speech at this year’s annual general meeting, KBA’s 89th, Bolza-Schünemann spoke largely about the measures, goals and current status of the Fit@All program for the restructuring of the group, as commenced at the beginning of the year.

‘Strengthening KBA’s lasting profitability and competitiveness are the focus and goals of Fit@All, he said. ‘It is clear that we must sustainably restructure our core business with web- and sheet-fed offset presses as well as realign capacities to new market conditions. The expansion of new growth areas is also a key aspect of our programme. We are convinced that we will be able to harvest the fruits of our realignment in 2015 and that the group will return to sustainable profitability by 2016 at the latest.’

In the coming months KBA will continue to work on lasting capacity and structural measures, a new site concept as well as reducing the depth of added value by outsourcing more activities that lie outside the group’s core press-related competences. Between 1,100 and 1,500 jobs from today’s figure of approx. 6,200 will be cut as part of implementing these measures.

Bolza-Schünemann added that Fit@All is more than just a restructuring program, and said: ‘We aim to achieve an overall cost base at which group sales of one billion EUR will lead to appropriate earnings. We do not want to go overboard with cost savings or shrink beyond recognition, which is why the expansion of potential growth areas is a further pillar of our realignment.’   

He spoke of KBA’s special applications which can be expanded further, such as banknote and digital printing, metal decorating and coding, as well as pointing to the new subsidiaries KBA-Flexotecnica and KBA-Kammann acquired last year. These are currently being integrated into the company’s international market presence and have opened up growth markets for flexible packaging and the direct decoration of hollow containers, which were previously not served by KBA.  

Bolza-Schünemann also said that KBA is preparing a new group and management structure with the goal of becoming a ‘decentralized, highly flexible’ press manufacturing group. This will see units for production, sheet-fed offset, web offset and special presses with clear responsibilities for earnings will carry out operational activities under the umbrella of Koenig & Bauer AG.

KBA took its first steps towards this goal on May 1 with the establishment of a web product house in Würzburg for the production of web offset presses, excluding special machines, to operate alongside a sheet-fed product house in Radebeul responsible for sheet-fed offset presses.