Kugler-Womako Celebrates Kugler's 50th Anniversary

Published: October 19, 2012

In 1961, the former technical director of Bielomatik, Walter Kugler, set up a design office in Bad Cannstatt and then founded Kugler Automation GmbH one year later. The first machine from Bad Cannstatt was a writing pad machine for gluing the tops of pads with cold glue and was exhibited the same year at the drupa print media fair.

In 1964, the company relocated to Riederich. During the years that followed, Kugler made a name for itself as a specialist in machines for the paper converting industry. One of the best sellers at that time was the "Kugler punch," of which well over a thousand units were sold. Also successful was a machine for the production of folders that revolutionized the stationery market in 1972 with a production capacity of 45 folders/min.

At that time, machines for producing passports were already an important mainstay of the industry. Today, seven out of ten passport machines that are installed throughout the world are from Kugler. However, Kugler Automation also produced a very wide range of products. During that time, for example, it also produced machines for manufacturing coffee filters, page-a-day calendars, and even packaging machines for phonograph records.

In 1985, Walter Kugler sold his shares in the company to the Koerber Group in Hamburg. Womako, which was founded in June 1973 by Hans Wohlfahrt in Nuertingen, was already part of the group at the time and was producing exercise book machines and production lines for stationery supplies.

In 1999, a merger between Kugler Automation GmbH and Womako Maschinenkonstruktionen GmbH into Kugler-Womako GmbH was concluded; today, the Nuertingen-based company employs 95 people.

After being sold by the Koerber Group, the company has been under new ownership since the beginning of the year. In addition to Kugler-Womako, a group of investors at Orlando Management AG in Munich also acquired sister companies E.C.H. Will from Hamburg and Pemco from the USA. The Kugler anniversary was celebrated on September 21 with more than 300 guests, employees, and their families with a lively social program on a bright sunny day.

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