RR Donnelley and KBA to Develop Next Generation Digital Print Platforms

RR Donnelley & Sons Co. and Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) have announced an agreement to develop, manufacture, and sell next-generation piezoelectric digital inkjet printing solutions to the packaging, securities, commercial, and newspaper segments. Under terms of the agreement, RR Donnelley will license its Apollo and other digital imaging technologies to KBA which will incorporate them into its press offerings. KBA’s new digital press will be introduced in May 2012 at the drupa show in Dusseldorf, Germany.

“RR Donnelley and KBA have long been leaders and innovators in our industries,” says Thomas J. Quinlan III, RR Donnelley’s President and CEO. “We look forward to having the combined R&D resources of nearly 1,000 engineers and imaging scientists bring forward the next generation of digital imaging technologies. This relationship will benefit the customers we serve today and enable RR Donnelley innovations to be introduced to customers in segments that we do not yet address.”

“Seeking to expand the industry’s broadest product range, KBA has spent the last 18 months assessing both current and future digital printing technologies,” says Helge Hansen, CEO of KBA. “It was clear that RR Donnelley was uniquely positioned to partner with us from a digital print technology, experience, and scale perspective. It’s more than a sales and service agreement for existing technology. We look forward to jointly reinvigorating this industry with new digital imaging platforms.”