Our Company and Group History

1970	E.C.H. Will GmbH, Hamburg (Germany), an internationally renowned manufacturer of paper converting machinery, joins the Körber Group.
1976	Acquisition of Womako Maschinenkonstruktionen GmbH, Nürtingen (Germany), developer and manufacturer of machinery for the stationery industry and bookbinderies.
1981	Acquisition of Pemco Inc., Sheboygan (USA), manufacturer of complete lines for wrapping small paper formats, folio-size cutters and fully automatic cartoning machines.
1985	Acquisition of Kugler Automation GmbH in Riederich (Germany), builder of machinery and production lines for manufacturing personal documents.
1990	Acquisition of Wrapmatic S.p.A. of Bologna (Italy), manufacturer of folio-size ream wrapping machines and complete lines for pallet handling.
1992	Death of Dr. Kurt A. Körber. From this point onwards, the Körber Foundation owns the entire share capital of all companies in the Group.
1994	Entry into the tissue converting sector: Acquisition of the majority of shares in Fabio Perini S.p.A. in Lucca (Italy) and Fabio Perini S.A. in Joinville (Brazil), leading suppliers of machinery for the tissue converting industry. Acquisition of Cassoli S.r.l. in Bologna (Italy) and establishment of Casmatic S.p.A. in Bologna (Italy) by combining Cassoli and the tissue packaging sector of Wrapmatic S.p.A.. Casmatic manufatures fully automatic machines and packaging systems for wrapping rolls and folded products.
1995	Structural reorganization of the Körber Group into three divisions: Tobacco Technology, Paper and Tissue Technology and Machine Tools. The Paper and Tissue Division is called PapTis Holding GmbH.
1999	Renaming of PapTis Holding GmbH into Körber PaperLink GmbH. Merger of Womako Maschinenkonstruktionen GmbH and Kugler Automation GmbH into Kugler-Womako GmbH.
2000	Acquisition of the small folio sheeter division of Strachan Henshaw Machinery (SHM).
2001	Acquisition of Green Bay Engineering (GBE) in Green Bay, Wisconsin (USA).
2002	Foundation of Körber Engineering Shanghai Co., Ltd. (KES) in Shanghai (China). Establishment of Perini Engraving S.r.l. in Lucca (Italy). Foundation of Körber PaperLink America Latina in São Paulo (Brazil).
2003	Establishment of KPL Packaging S.p.A. in Bologna (Italy).
2005	Acquisition of the majority of shares in Winkler+Dünnebier AG (W+D), Neuwied (Germany), leading supplier of machinery for the graphic arts industry and paper converting industry.
2007	Grouping of the Paper packaging competency: Pemco Inc. takes over the responsibility for the folio-size ream packaging (Wrapmatic).
2008	Renaming of the division into Paper Division. Acquisition of Langhammer Maschinenbau GmbH, Freiberg and Eisenberg (Germany).
2009	50th anniversary of the Körber Foundation. Its founder, Kurt A. Körber, would have celebrated his 100th birthday.
2010	Pemco Inc. celebrates its 50th anniversary. Winkler+Dünnebier AG acquires Buhrs ITM, Löhne (Germany), specialist of mailing and fulfillment solutions. Renaming of the company to W+D Direct Marketing Solutions.
2011	W+D-Langhammer looked back on 40 successful production years in Eisenberg (Palatinate) and 20 in Freiberg (Saxony). At the same time the opening of the new company building in Freiberg forms the basis for more growth.