Böttcher America Corporation, a subsidiary of the German firm Felix Böttcher GmbH & Co., manufactures and sells materials for the printing industry in North America since 1982. Böttcher America is headquartered in Belcamp,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

United States and employs over 200 employees.

History

Böttcher America was established in 1982 when the German firm Felix Böttcher GmbH & Co. purchased Harrigan Rollers located in Baltimore, Maryland.Klara van Eyll, ''Böttcher 1725-2000, the story of a family enterprise'', Cologne 2000, p.82-83. Harrigan Rollers was a company dealing in rollers, printing blankets and maintenance products but without a plant of its own. Five years later, a Böttcher America production plant was built at a new site in Belcamp, Maryland. The company also set-up numerous sales offices throughout the continental United States. Building extensions were made to the Belcamp location in 1994 and 1996. Two more production plants were opened in Indianapolis and Tipton, Indiana in 1997. In 2003, the company opened another manufacturing facility in Yuma, Arizona.McCann Jen, ''Böttcher America opens roller unit'', Rubber & Plastics News II, 13 April 1998. Since 2000, Böttcher America continues to expand its facilities with chemical manufacturing and blanket conversions. Böttcher America is also in charge of Böttcher Canada and Böttcher Mexico.

Products

Böttcher America today manufactures and sells materials for the printing industry:Klara van Eyll, ''Böttcher 1725-2000, the story of a family enterprise'', Cologne 2000, p.96-98. printing rollers, printing blankets, and printing chemicals such as press washes, fountain solutions, and printing aids. These products can be used for a variety of markets (

offset printing Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on t ...

rotogravure Rotogravure (or gravure for short) is a type of intaglio printing process, which involves engraving the image onto an image carrier. In gravure printing, the image is engraved onto a cylinder because, like offset printing and flexography, it ...

flexography Flexography (often abbreviated to flexo) is a form of printing process which utilizes a flexible relief plate. It is essentially a modern version of letterpress, evolved with high speed rotary functionality, which can be used for printing on a ...

and

digital printing Digital printing is a method of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format ...

). Böttcher America can supply rollers to customers as either "exchange" or "recover".''Press Rollers'' http://www.böttcher.com/press_rollers_products_press_roller_manufacturer_press_roller_company.php The "Roller Recover Program" allows customers to send Böttcher America used rollers to be recovered with new rubber. A customer can also order rollers through the "Exchange Roller Program" and a press-ready roller will be shipped. The customer is billed for the rubber only and has 60 days to return the core(s).
Böttcher is the

OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

roller supplier to the major sheet-fed press manufacturers including Heidelberg,

MAN Roland Manroland AG manufactures newspaper web offset presses, commercial web offset presses, and sheetfed offset presses for commercial, publications and packaging printing. The company has production facilities in Offenbach am Main and Augsburg. M ...

, KBA,

Komori is a Japanese press manufacturer that manufactures web offset presses, security printing presses, sheet-fed offset presses, package printing presses and printing related equipment. It is one of the last privately-owned press producers. Komo ...

and Mitsubishi.
Böttcher America has won two awards for its products. In 1993, the company won a

GATF Graphic Arts Technical Foundation is a nonprofit, scientific, technical, and educational organization which promotes the technological advancement of the printing industry worldwide. The Foundation fulfills its missions through its five divisio ...

award in recognition of the glaze free rollers technology (79 Series Rubber Compounds).''Technical talk (Winners of the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation's InterTech Award)'', GraphicArts Monthly, 1 October 1993. In 2005, Böttcher America won a new PIA/GATF award for its Chameleon rubber roller compound''PIA/GATF InterTech Technology Awards 2005'', GraphicArts Monthly Supplement, September, 2005, p.6. which enables printers to switch freely among different inks (conventional, UV or hybrid) without changing printing rollers.

Locations

Böttcher America has 5 manufacturing locations in the United States. One of the plants is located in Belcamp, Maryland (North American headquarters) and the four other locations are found in Indianapolis, Indiana, Tipton, Indiana, Yuma, Arizona, and Dexter, Michigan. Facilities located in Maryland and Indiana manufacture rollers and also convert blanket material. Böttcher America also has a chemical mixing facility in Dexter, Michigan.

Literature

* Klara van Eyll, Böttcher 1725–2000, ''The history of a family enterprise'', Cologne 2000

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bottcher America Manufacturing companies based in Maryland American subsidiaries of foreign companies