The reduced availability of raw materials, coupled with higher shipping and logistics costs, have resulted in Koenig & Bauer making a ‘moderate price adjustment’ to its entire product portfolio.
Koenig & Bauer noted that, worldwide, prices for many industrial metals and electronics have risen rapidly. Even wood, which is needed for packaging for transport, is in short supply.
The company has seen the cost of raw materials needed to manufacture equipment raised to the point where it has needed to act to ensure continuity of supply and the quality of its products. This increase has impacted raw materials from copper, plastics and additives, to sheet metal and wood. Higher shipping and logistics costs have also furthered the need to adjust prices, as has the global electronics chip shortage, which is leading to reduced capacities and long lead times for industrial customers, including those outside the automotive sector. The highly automated nature of Koenig & Bauer’s technology has made it sensitive to this last point, although the company stated that, ‘Their unique selling points in automation, make-ready times and inline processes bring economic benefits to users and enhance their future viability. The moderate price increase enables further innovations and is thus an investment in the future for the industry.’
Ralf Sammeck, member of the executive board at Koenig & Bauer, said, ‘The price adjustment comes in an environment of increasingly scarce resources, and is a necessary step to enable us to continue offering our customers the quality, customised solutions, and reliable service they expect from us.
‘The global challenges facing the industry would have to be mastered together in order to maintain our innovative strength.’
