Felix Böttcher

Felix Böttcher GmbH & Co. KG is a German family-owned company headquartered in Cologne, Germany. It is the world market leader in the coating of rotationally symmetric bodies, holding a 40% market share. Approximately 60% of all printing machines built worldwide are equipped with Böttcher roller coatings. The company employs more than 2,000 people, 650 of them in Germany, and generated revenue of €243 million in 2018, with over 70% coming from abroad. The business is managed by the eighth generation of the founding family and traces its origins back to 1725, when master tanner Johannes Jacobus Loosen opened his own workshop in Cologne. According to the Stiftung Familienunternehmen, it is one of the 30 oldest family businesses in Germany. The company's core business is the production of elastomer-coated rotationally symmetric bodies for various industries, with a focus on roller coatings and sleeves for all graphic printing processes (web offset, sheetfed offset, gravure, flexographic, and digital printing). It also supplies printing blankets and chemicals such as washing and dampening agents. Under the brand name "Vita," Böttcher offers a product series for food packaging printing that ensures low-migration printing. Technical rollers for the packaging, metal, plastics, wood, textiles, and paper industries account for about 65% of roller sales. Böttcher also develops and produces high-precision rubber compounds for pharmaceuticals, medicine, sports, health, and safety technology, and manufactures handrails for escalators under the brand name TechGrip. The company operates globally with production sites in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australia, and opened its first own company in Africa in Tunisia in 2016.

The history of Felix Böttcher GmbH & Co. KG dates back to 1725, when master tanner Johannes Jacobus Loosen (1702–1775) opened his own workshop in Cologne. The company is now managed by the eighth generation of the family and is one of the 30 oldest family businesses in Germany according to the Stiftung Familienunternehmen. From 1825, the company also engaged in glue boiling. First contacts with the printing industry arose in 1891, when Otto Loosen (fourth generation) produced gelatin for printing rollers for the first time. In 1878, Felix Böttcher, the namesake of today's group, began producing roller mass in Leipzig. He died early, and in 1892 Ernst Herrmann bought the company from his widow. A year later, the new owner switched the operation to the production of finished rollers. This innovation (until then, printing houses had coated their rollers themselves with the supplied gelatin) quickly caught on, and by the turn of the century the company had become an important supplier to the printing industry with branches in Munich and Berlin. At the same time, Wilhelm Loosen in Cologne came under competitive pressure, so in 1910 he accepted Herrmann's offer of cooperation. Both founded a GmbH, each holding 50 percent, and agreed on a division of labor: Leipzig supplied the roller mass, Cologne produced the finished gelatin rollers. The company grew—also through acquisitions of smaller competitors—and employed 28 people in Cologne alone by 1922. An important milestone was the switch from temperature- and moisture-sensitive, highly wear-prone gelatin to the synthetic rubber Buna in 1933. But the upward trend was halted by the war: while Felix Böttcher delivered 42,000 rollers in 1941, only 20,000 were delivered in 1943. Buna, classified as important for the war, became increasingly scarce. Bombing raids in April and October 1944 completely destroyed the Cologne operation. A year later, makeshift production began there, but with the establishment of the Iron Curtain in 1949, the connection to Leipzig was severed. Cologne became the group headquarters in 1953, where from 1956 technical rollers for the steel, aluminum, plastics, textiles, and wood industries were also produced. Felix Böttcher benefited from the so-called economic miracle: from 1950 to 1970, the number of employees rose from 160 to 766. After printing houses, printing machine manufacturers now became the focus as customers: exclusive contracts were signed with Heidelberger Druckmaschinen and Manroland. The first foreign production facilities were established in 1973 in Italy and the United Kingdom. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Böttcher established its own production companies throughout Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. In 2016, the first own company on the African continent was opened in Tunisia. The company has been led since 1992 by the lawyer Franz-Georg Heggemann (born 1955), the husband of Horst W. Loosen's (1930–2017) only daughter Bärbel. It was the first time that the two shareholder families Loosen and Herrmann agreed on a common managing director. In the course of a capital increase on January 1, 1995, Heggemann also became a shareholder of Felix Böttcher. The company's archive material is held in the Saxon State Archives, Leipzig State Archive.

• 2016

  First own company in Africa opens in Tunisia.

• 1995

  Heggemann becomes a shareholder through a capital increase.

• 1992

  Franz-Georg Heggemann becomes managing director.

• 1973

  First foreign production facilities in Italy and the United Kingdom.

• 1956

  Production of technical rollers for various industries begins in Cologne.

• 1953

  Cologne becomes the group headquarters.

• 1949

  The connection to Leipzig is severed by the Iron Curtain.

• 1944

  The Cologne plant is completely destroyed by bombing raids.

• 1933

  Switch from gelatin to synthetic rubber Buna.

• 1922

  The Cologne operation employs 28 people.

• 1910

  Wilhelm Loosen and Ernst Herrmann found a GmbH with 50/50 ownership.

• 1893

  The company switches to producing finished rollers.

• 1892

  Ernst Herrmann buys the company from Felix Böttcher's widow.

• 1891

  Otto Loosen produces gelatin for printing rollers for the first time.

• 1878

  Felix Böttcher starts producing roller mass in Leipzig.

• 1825

  The company also begins glue boiling.

• 1725

  Johannes Jacobus Loosen opens a tannery in Cologne, the origin of the family business.

World market leader in coating rotationally symmetric bodies, with a focus on high-quality, innovative solutions for the printing and industrial roller markets.

• Vita series

  Product series for food packaging printing ensuring low-migration printing.

• TechGrip handrails

  Handrails for escalators.

• KB Roller Tech copier rollers

  Rollers for copiers produced in Germany and Thailand by KB Roller Tech, a joint venture with Kinyosha.

1. 1Felix Böttcher - Wikipediade.wikipedia.org
2. 2Felix Böttcher - Wikidatawikidata.org