Durst Advances Packaging Side of Business

Italian wide-format printer manufacture Durst announces a 50/50 joint venture with German printing press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer for the development and marketing of single-pass digital printing systems for the folding carton and cartonboard corrugated industry.

According to Durst, the Koenig & Bauer Group and its more than 5,700 employees is one of the world’s major suppliers of packaging and banknote printing. Founded in 1817, it’s said to be the oldest printing press manufacturer in the world still in operation.

Under the agreement, in the future, fully automated production lines will be developed and distributed worldwide. According to Durst, the digital transformation in graphics printing is also being felt in the packaging industry, as conventional printing techniques can’t keep up with the ever-changing requirements. But unlike in the graphics industry, an inkjet press alone is not enough, the company says. There is a need to integrate different peripheral systems into a fully automatic production line. Koenig & Bauer will continue to be based in Germany and will also manage the service and ink business in close cooperation with the global network of both companies.