B&K Offset Printing

What B&K Offset Printing does

B&K Offsetdruck GmbH is a family-owned commercial offset printing company headquartered in Ottersweier, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Operating from a 17,000+ m² production facility in three-shift mode, B&K runs 54 printing groups across sheet-fed offset (Bogenoffset), web offset (Rollenoffset), and digital printing technologies, including the world's first Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106-10-P+L 10-color perfecting press installed in June 2020 as part of a €4 million capital investment. The company produces magazines, brochures, catalogs, books, mailings, coupons, calendars, ad specials, and stickers for publishing houses, mail-order companies, retail/trade businesses, and industrial clients, with a strong specialization in creative finishing (UV varnish, soft-touch coating, hot foil stamping, metallic and scented varnishes).

B&K's revenue model is primarily project-based B2B printing services priced per quote based on volume, paper, color, and finishing specifications, supplemented by recurring online marketing portal solutions for standardized print materials. The company pursues a sales-led go-to-market through a dedicated direct sales team covering Germany and France (with a French-language website and francophone sales contacts). Named enterprise customers include major German consumer magazine publishers (InStyle, Grazia, Focus, Bunte, Elle, Freundin, TV-Spielfilm) and premium retailer Douglas, with hybrid offset/digital variable data printing used to support personalized direct-mail campaigns.

The business is differentiated by a rare stack of environmental and quality certifications — Blauer Engel, FSC, PEFC, EMAS, EU Ecolabel, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and CrefoZert — and by integration with Deutsche Post AG for postal optimization. B&K is owned and led by Managing Director and proprietor Jörn Kalbhenn; the firm employs over 230 people from 16 nationalities, runs an active apprenticeship program, and operates without external institutional investors or disclosed funding rounds.

Name

B&K Offset Printing

Legal name

B&K Offsetdruck GmbH

Website

https://bk-offset.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1973

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

B&K Offsetdruck GmbH is a family-owned German commercial offset and digital printer producing magazines, catalogs, books, mailings, and personalized print for publishers, mail-order firms, retailers, and industrial clients from a 17,000+ m² facility in Ottersweier.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Printing Services

NAICS

Commercial Printing (except Screen and Books) (323111), Printing (32311), Support Activities for Printing (32312)

SIC

Converted Paper & Paperboard Prods (No Contaners/Boxes) (2670)

akta.pro primary industry

Commercial & Offset Printing (Sheetfed/Web) (MPAJALAB)

Keywords

• Offset printing services
• Commercial printing
• Digital printing services
• Print finishing services
• Variable data printing

Headquarters

HQ city

Ottersweier

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Offset printing services: Sheet-fed and web offset printing services for magazines, catalogs, brochures, books, and promotional materials. Revenue generated from print production runs with various finishing options including special colors, varnishes, laminates, and special processing.
2. Digital printing services: Digital printing for short runs, personalized prints, and on-demand production. Enables customization through variable data publishing (VDP) and personalization capabilities.
3. Logistics and fulfillment services: Complete logistics services including packing, shipping, storage, and on-demand delivery. Handles approximately 50,000 palettes annually with integrated postal optimization services.
4. Marketing portal solutions: Online marketing portals for standardized recurring print materials, enabling clients to order business cards, commercial documents, and advertising materials through company-branded platforms.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

B&K Offsetdruck GmbH is a German commercial printing company that develops, prints and produces professional print, digital, hybrid and shop solutions for publishers, mail-order companies, retail and industrial clients. Its offering spans sheet-fed and web offset printing, digital printing, variable data publishing, hybrid production, extensive in-house finishing and embellishment, post-press processing, and complete logistics, packing, shipping and storage services — delivered from a 17,000+ m² three-shift facility in Ottersweier with up to 80 million DIN A4 pages of daily capacity.

Product overview

B&K Offset Printing (B&K Offsetdruck GmbH) is a German offset printing company offering a comprehensive portfolio of print products and services. The core product lineup includes Covers, Brochures & Supplements, Booklets, Magazines, Stickers, Hits for Kids, Coupons, Mailings & Self-mailings, Calendars, Ad Specials, and Books. The company operates across three main printing technologies: Digital Print, Sheet Offset Print, and Web Offset Print, complemented by Hybrid Production capabilities. Supporting services include Variable Data Publishing for personalization, extensive Finishing & Embellishment options (UV varnish, lamination, hot foil stamping, scented varnish, etc.), Post-Press Processing, and Logistics/Packing/Shipping/Storage. As specialists in special print enhancements and creative paper mechanics, B&K accompanies customers from idea to finished product, serving publishers, mail order companies, trade, and industry.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Covers (Umschläge) Magazine and catalog covers with special print finishing (UV varnish, spot coating, inline finishing) designed to be optically and haptically appealing for publishers.
• Brochures & Supplements (Prospekte • Beilagen) Printed promotional brochures and inserted supplements for catalogs and magazines.
• Booklets Handy-format booklets with high-end appearance enhanced by innovative embellishments and special finishes.
• Magazines, Brochures & Catalogues Full-range magazines, brochures and catalogs produced with high quality standards for medium to large print runs.
• Stickers High-quality, durable and original stickers functioning as interactive marketing instruments, including fully recyclable options.
• Coupons Printed coupon solutions that can be personalized and enhanced with various finishing options.
• Mailings & Self-mailers Direct marketing mailings and self-mailer solutions designed with creativity, personalization and haptic impact to increase customer attention and drive purchases.
• Supplementary Booklets (Beihefter) Inserted supplementary booklets for various publications.
• Calendars Decorative and durable advertising calendars in various formats with refined finishing, individualization or personalization options.
• Ad Specials Creative advertising inserts including pop-ups, sliding mechanisms, sophisticated folding techniques, gift samples and serialized codes for games and access.
• Books Professional book printing with PUR adhesive binding, sewn binding, softcover and hardcover, with protective varnish and finishing.
• Digital Print Services Flexible digital printing for economic production from the first copy, with personalization capabilities in black or color via Heidelberg Versafire EP/EV and Canon imagePrograf PRO-4100S presses.
• Sheet Offset Print Services (Bogenoffset) High-quality sheet-fed offset printing with up to 10/0 or 4/6 colors plus dispersion varnish in a single pass at 18,000 sheets/hour, including the world's first Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106-10-P+L 10-color perfecting press.
• Web Offset Print Services (Rollenoffset) Fast web-fed offset printing with three 5-color KBA presses at 70,000 sheets/hour, handling newspapers, catalogs, brochures and ad specials by the millions.
• Hybrid Production Flexible combination of offset and digital printing with color management ensuring consistent results, enabling pre-produced static images with personalized digital overlays.
• Variable Data Publishing (VDP) Personalized communication through variable data publishing that addresses each customer individually with customized messages to increase response rates.
• Finishing & Embellishment Comprehensive finishing services including UV varnish, dispersion varnish, soft-touch coating, iriodin varnish, drip-off varnish, hot foil stamping, textured varnish, scented varnish and lamination.
• Post-Press Processing Professional further processing including cutting, folding (14 folding machines), binding (3 perfect binders), packaging and shipping, with inline punching, fluorescent colors and Drip-Off combinations.
• Logistics, Packing, Shipping & Storage Complete logistics services including secure delivery, on-demand shipping from warehouse stock and economical shipping for approximately 50,000 pallets annually, with Deutsche Post postal optimization.
• Online Marketing Portals Online marketing portals for standardized recurring print materials, enabling clients to order business cards, commercial documents and advertising materials through company-branded platforms on a recurring subscription basis.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4.5% conversion rate increase and 12% higher order value for e-commerce customers using personalized print mailings
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• DouglascoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPremium beauty retailer using B&K's hybrid print production with variable data publishing for personalized mailings. Douglas works with B&K for complete mailshot handling from planning through postal delivery to end customers.
• FairEnergiesupportingOthersLocal energy supplier providing electricity with 257g/kWh CO2 factor used for calculating B&K's environmental impact and carbon savings from efficiency measures.
• Deutsche Post AGcoreTechnology or IntegrationB&K is Performance-Partner and GoGreen-Partner of Deutsche Post, using their postal services for mailshot delivery with port optimization services to maximize postage discounts.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA: European photo and commercial printing group headquartered in Germany. Comparable as a German Mittelstand printing business with strong retail and consumer-direct channels, but skews more toward photo/consumer products than B&K's publisher and mail-order focus.

Broad incumbents

• Cimpress plc: Global mass-customization printing platform owning multiple brands across signage, packaging, apparel and commercial print. Comparable as a broad incumbent in commercial printing and direct-mail adjacent services, but with a fundamentally web-to-print/aggregation model distinct from B&K's project-based premium offset work.
• Quad/Graphics: Large North American commercial printer serving magazine publishers, retailers and direct mailers. Comparable in offset, catalog and direct-mail capabilities, though primarily serving the U.S. market rather than competing with B&K in Europe.
• Arvato (Bertelsmann Printing Group): One of Europe's largest printing conglomerates offering offset, digital and fulfillment across multiple verticals. Comparable as a broad incumbent with overlapping magazine, catalog and retail printing services, though at much larger scale and with a different ownership structure.

Others

• Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG: Manufacturer of the Speedmaster presses B&K operates (including its flagship 10-color perfecting press). Relevant as the principal equipment partner whose roadmap drives B&K's capability evolution, though it is a supplier rather than a printing peer.
• Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA): Manufacturer of the KBA C16 and C217 web offset presses in B&K's fleet. Comparable as a key equipment supplier whose technology decisions directly affect B&K's web offset competitiveness and capex cycle.
• Canon Production Printing (formerly Océ): Vendor of the imagePrograf and Versafire-class production printing systems B&K uses for digital and large-format work. Comparable as a technology partner shaping B&K's digital and hybrid roadmap rather than as a competing printer.
• CPI Group (Loxahatchee): Global printing services platform with European footprint serving publishers and corporate clients. Comparable as a broad-services peer adjacent to B&K's premium commercial offset offering, but with weaker overlap in special finishing and embellishment.

Emerging players

• Landa Digital Printing: Nanographic digital printing technology provider targeting commercial offset replacement. Comparable as an emerging technology whose adoption by competitors could disrupt parts of B&K's short-run offset business, though not yet a direct printing peer.

Direct peers

• Onlineprinters (Tradeprint / Cimpress): Online commercial offset and digital printer serving European SMBs with high-volume production. Closest direct peer in scale and European commercial offset/digital focus, though B&K emphasizes premium finishing while Onlineprinters emphasizes web-to-print scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/BKOffset
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/b&k-offsetdruck-gmbh
• Xx.com/BKOffsetdruck

Compliance8 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about B&K Offset Printing