Albrecht Germann

Induction Year: 2017

Albrecht Germann returned from WWII to study mechanical engineering in Darmstadt. His father was a well-respected production manager, making Albrecht a member of one of the old patrician families of the labour force that existed since Koenig & Bauer’s founding in 1817.

In the early years, he participated in rebuilding efforts after the war, and Albrecht was there when the two grand old men of the industry, Hans Bolza and Rino Giori, created the cooperation between Organisation Giori and Koenig & Bauer.

The young engineers had to take responsibility for the growing banknote business, and as always, engineers grow with the problems Mother Nature puts in their way. Albrecht Germann’s relentless and meticulous engineering efforts initially became legendary when the first 5-colour Simultan at the OeBS was in trouble.  Without any modern communications, he went by train to Vienna to solve problem. Albrecht turned to KoeBau Mödling where he found material, fitters, and moral support. He served on the board of this important Austrian affiliate from 1970 until his retirement.

With Rino Giori, the ingenious market strategist, and Hans-Bernhard Bolza-Schünemann, the knowledgeable and supportive engineer-in-chief, Albrecht Germann developed his engineering skills and banknote product inventions. His most important contributions: the introduction of the Super format; the first stop-and-go web Simultan machine; the Completa in-line Super Simultan with intaglio; the first steps in automated inspection; and the first full-speed application machine. He also led the development of technology and engineering for commercial sheet-fed offset machines.  After the acquisition of PLANETA, he finished his career creating the Rapida large-format machine family.

Albrecht was the respected engineering face of banknote printing machines around the world. His portrait hangs in the museum of China Banknote Printing and Minting Corp.