Interview
THE MIDDLE EAST IS AN ATTRACTIVE
MARKET FOR US Exclusive interview with Claus Bolza-Schünemann, CEO, Koenig and Bauer
MEPrinter September - October 2020
Uncertain times Mr. Schünemann, don’t you think so? Yes, but after all any kind of disease or virus is a huge challenge and we have to live and cope with it. However, my belief is some of the measures taken were completely overdone and others are fairly okay. Having said that I believe the Coronavirus crisis will change international business and also our lifestyle dramatically, unlike any other disease or virus that hit us during the last 50 or 100 years. It’s not the Spanish flu of course, but it’s all over the world. And as you already said the uncertainties are quite large.
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As one of the biggest player in global printing industry Koenig and Bauer has been choosing its path wisely. The company started diversifying into different sectors of printing industry since many years ago and the company is now offering a wide range of printing equipment for offset, digital, security, flexible packaging as well as metal printing. Koenig and Bauer’s focus on packaging could be a winning formula to survive the ongoing Coronavirus crisis. In order to find out more about company’s plans for the future and its view on current pandemic we talked with Claus BolzaSchünemann, CEO of Koenig and Bauer. Schünemann has served the company for 28 years, which included nine years as CEO and President. He is an engineer and full of passion about graphic arts industry. Here is the full interview which was done through remote video conferencing.
Unlike a number of big manufacturers who believe the era of mega exhibitions is over you have decided to participate in drupa, do you believe exhibitions such as drupa are still relevant? I personally believe so. There is no question that there are fewer exhibitions around the world than the past. However, we do actually believe that showing technologies and solutions for the graphic industry in a general Exhibition has an extremely broad view. We do have in-house exhibitions, but we only show what kind of technology Koenig and Bauer has to offer to the market. In an exhibition you have the opportunity to see all or most of companies who are active in the printing world under one roof and this is a great advantage. And I think this is also a charming part of the exhibitions such as drupa for the customers who are visiting the show. They have the possibility to see not only printing presses from several suppliers but also all the solutions around it. Therefore, I think very large exhibitions that are being held once in a while such as China Print or drupa are still attractive. However regional exhibitions with few exhibitors are not viable anymore. Many have died and don’t exist anymore. They just became too small and therefore I think that the large ones are still very popular. For Koenig and Bauer particularly participating at drupa is to show a new technology or face to face meeting is more important? Many companies now are using virtual events and webinars to present their new technology. You know, at the very end people do business and we are in the investing industry. We don’t manufacture cars or refrigerators, which can be easily sold via
