License to print on money

Rocket science behind your breakfast egg

"People call Leibinger when things get difficult," the CEO says confidently. "Being the global leader in the serialization of banknotes and passports gives us credibility." That reputation also opens doors in the increasingly digitalized and highly regulated food industry. After all, what a serial number is to a banknote, a best-before date is to a packet of Maggi seasoning. Modern products cannot go without printed consumer information – and the amount of information required continues to grow.

You encounter Leibinger's expertise as early as breakfast. A small sequence of numbers printed on an eggshell reveals the farm of origin and the type of hen housing – information that is now mandatory in many countries. "We've developed specialized printers for a wide range of applications, including egg coding," says Leibinger. It sounds characteristically understated, but the technology behind it is anything but that. 

In the company's Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) process, which Leibinger continuously refines, the printhead generates up to 128,000 ink droplets per second. The droplets required for printing are electrically charged, pass through a high-voltage field, and are precisely deflected so that the dyes or pigments land exactly where they are needed – on an eggshell, for example. "Consumers want a fresh egg on the breakfast table. Producers want maximum speed and uptime," says Leibinger. "A single printer can code up to 30,000 eggs per hour as they race through the sorting line." Ink drying time: less than one second.

Using a unique technology, the company automatically seals both the print nozzles and the ink circuit. "Our printers are ready to use straight out of the box and can operate maintenance-free for up to five years," Leibinger promises, adding a pointed remark about competing systems. "With conventional printheads, fast-drying inks can cause the nozzles to clog." For plant managers, that's the kind of problem that keeps them up at night:  their production line coming to a halt because a single print nozzle is blocked. "Our equipment has to keep pace with every production line," says Leibinger. "And it does." The company's product brochure even promises customers "100 percent peace of mind."

Leibinger's inkjet printers code virtually everything. In addition to eggs, they mark Campbell's tomato soup cans, Nestlé Maggi seasoning, and craft beer bottles. The printers, no larger than a fully automatic coffee machine, are integrated into extremely high-speed production processes. "And production speeds keep increasing," says Leibinger. Beverage filling lines process up to 80,000 bottles per hour, while the company's high-performance printers can code cables at speeds of up to one kilometer per minute. "The ink has to remain permanently legible and resistant to abrasion."

To make all this possible, 20 employees in the company's in-house ink laboratory alone simulate customer-specific applications and continuously develop new ink formulations for a wide variety of substrates. "Sometimes the ink has to adhere to frozen, oily, or rusty surfaces, sometimes to leather, and sometimes it even has to be edible," Leibinger explains. Every country has its own regulations, including rules governing permitted solvents and binding agents. In 2021, Leibinger further strengthened its ink expertise by acquiring SIS Ink Solution, a specialist based in Berg near Nuremberg.

Jan van het Reve (44), Chief Operating Officer, describes the CIJ printer market as "highly competitive". "There are around ten companies competing intensely, and we see ourselves in fourth place by unit sales." The Swiss executive, who has Dutch roots, is not only COO but also Christina Leibinger's husband. "We studied the same subject at the University of Zurich," says van het Reve. "Economics, with a specialization in Financial Economics." In front of visitors, however, the couple do not address each other by their first names, but formally by their surnames – a matter of habit. "We don't have a first-name culture between management and employees," says the Managing Director. "But we still maintain a warm and respectful relationship with everyone." Many of the company's 354 employees have been with Leibinger for many years. "There has never been a redundancy in the company's 78-year history." Through innovation, she is committed to ensuring that this remains the case.

Leibinger expects a major boost from the transition to two-dimensional codes in retail – the next digital revolution in product identification. In addition to pricing information, a single QR code can contain up to 7,000 pieces of digital product information, including ingredients, batch numbers, and expiry dates. Manufacturers such as Beiersdorf and retailers such as dm are already testing checkout systems designed for 2D codes. 

"Many manual workflows and processes can be digitized this way," Leibinger explains. For the past three years, the company has been developing new printing technologies specifically for marking with 2D codes. At the Interpack trade fair in Düsseldorf in May, Leibinger unveiled its new 2DJET printer for the first time. Commercial deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2027. Applying a complex pixel matrix is, of course, far more demanding than printing a simple barcode. At the same time, manufacturers do not want to slow down their production lines. "We love challenges like these," says Leibinger. "We've built our reputation on squeezing out that last bit of performance." In her view, competing technologies such as laser and thermal printing are at a disadvantage.

Inheritance tax concerns

What drives her? This company carries the heart and soul of our family," she says. Her grandfather, Paul Leibinger, founded the business in 1948, just five kilometers from the company's current headquarters. Installed in printing presses, the numbering machines mechanically advanced via a hand crank while imprinting sequential numbers onto all kinds of documents – train tickets, forms, lottery tickets, cinema tickets, and checks. Commercial printing was booming. "By 1960, we had already become one of the world's leading manufacturers," his granddaughter explains. "To date, we have brought 4.5 million of these numbering machines to market – more than anyone else."

Even as a global market leader, however, Leibinger faced difficult times. When Paul Leibinger died unexpectedly at an early age, his son Günther took over the company in 1963 at just 17 years old, supported by his mother. "My father had to fight hard for the company's survival. Many people tried to push the young man aside."  It took many years before the business became firmly established in the United States.

An exclusive supply agreement with Heidelberger Druckmaschinen gave the business a tremendous boost.  "That deal changed everything," says Christina Leibinger. Today, Günther Leibinger (80) remains actively involved in the business as Senior Chairman and principal shareholder. His younger daughter, Sonja Zobl-Leibinger (42), owns the same 24 percent stake as her older sister but is not involved in day-to-day operations. "We're currently planning the next stage of the succession process," says Christina Leibinger. One thing, she emphasizes, is certain: the company will remain family owned.

When his daughters were teenagers, Günther Leibinger made the far-reaching decision in 1998 to relocate the family to Switzerland. "Naturally, there was some uncertainty among our employees at first about what this would mean for the company," Christina Leibinger recalls. "My father's goal was to create and safeguard the conditions for a future generational transition despite the anticipated tightening of inheritance tax regulations in Germany," she explains candidly. Today, she benefits from that decision while also emphasizing: "We are one of the largest contributors of municipal business tax here in Tuttlingen."

Alongside its core business, Leibinger is also active in related industries. Leibinger Consulting AG is the largest single shareholder of Koenig & Bauer in Würzburg, the world's leading manufacturer of banknote printing presses. As with numbering machines, Christina Leibinger says there is effectively only one global competitor in this market as well: Komori of Tokyo. Her father clearly enjoys the connection. "My father Günther mostly pays in cash," says Leibinger. "He always carries a bundle of banknotes with him."