Trip to König & Bauer Radebeul

On Tuesday we split into two groups, one of them visiting Koenig & Bauer AG in Radebeul, a small city right next to Dresden. Upon our arrival we were greeted by the instructor of the apprentices at this company who gave us a tour of the facility.

Koenig & Bauer is a manufacturer of printing presses founded in 1817. The facility in Radebeul, formerly known as Planeta Radebeul, was incorporated in 1994. Today, small-, mid- and large-size offset-printing-machines are being built at the Radebeul location.

At first, we visited the apprentice workshop which Koenig & Bauer has set up to give their apprentices the possibility to learn the basics of the machines and train for their practical exams. It also includes a teaching room where the apprentices can get additional schooling on top of what is already provided in their classes at vocational school. Additionally, they have a small collection of old printing machines which gives an impression of the beginnings of the company and how far technology has progressed since then.

After that we were given a short presentation of the history and the organizational structure of the company. We then went on to see the production hall. It is really impressive once your realize how huge those printing machines really are and that they are able to construct them from scratch in their facility.