The decades between 1894, when the original firm SCAMAG was founded, and today’s KAMA GmbH have seen a rapidly changing corporate history.

In 1937 the company exhibited the world’s first automatic die cutter. About 40 years later post-press experts turned their eyes to Dresden again, because the newly developed folder-gluer was considered one of the most powerful machines of its type.

This event was followed in 1985 by the decision by the East German Department of Trade and Industry to abandon manufacture of KAMA products. Having become a part of the printing machine company Planeta Radebeul, the staff at the KAMA works made printing machine assemblies until the political changes in 1990.

In the early 1990s the Würzburg-based printing machine manufacturer König & Bauer AG (KBA) took over Planeta and KAMA. However, the falling away of the markets in central and eastern Europe meant a hard time for the KAMA works.

Then the tide turned and KAMA became a success story: an unexpected first order of ten cutters provided a chance of survival.

In April 1994 three top managers screwed up their courage and re-founded KAMA as a Planeta spin-off. With 21 employees, the young firm concentrated on two business fields: the development and manufacture of modern automatic die cutters and the production of quality assemblies as a supplier for machine construction companies. The former parent company, KBA Radebeul, is still the major customer in this business area.

In 1999 KAMA started to make cylinders and invested in up-to-date CNC machining equipment. The dependence on eastern European markets was gradually overcome. Sales agreements with customers from western Europe and the USA filled the order books.

In 2000 the ingenious firm managed to land another coup that offered great opportunities: at the major trade show for the post-press industry, DRUPA, it exhibited the KAMA TS 74 Automatic Die Cutter, which is fully compatible with two cardboard printing machines made by MAN Roland. The concept turned out to be a success, a purchase order of seven cutters from the USA represented the breakthrough on the international stage. Today, KAMA cutters are cutting, stamping and finishing on four continents.

In early 2002, KAMA made another major investment worth three million Euro: they built and equipped a new production hall in Dresden to double production capacity. Cutting-edge processing centres, among them a Rilsan plant for coating printing cylinders with a plastic film, allow the cylinders to be made from start to finish under one roof.

In late 2003, KAMA won the largest printing machine manufacturer, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, as a new distribution partner for eastern Europe, the CIS, USA, Canada and Mexico.

On 1 April 2004 the KAMA staff celebrated the firm’s “100-and-10-year” anniversary – 100 years of SCAMAG and Polygraph KAMA plus 10 years of KAMA GmbH since its re-establishment as an independent firm in 1994. The innovative mechanical engineers displayed at DRUPA the automatic die cutter KAMA TS 105 as a flexible “all-rounder” as well as the TS 74 generation with the new hot foil stamping module.

In 2005 KAMA introduced a hot foil stamping module for the die cutter TS 105. The second innovation was a hot cutting system for die cutters which enables the quick and precise processing of plastics, for example to produce plastic folders, folding boxes or CD sleeves. With an investment of 750,000 euros in component production, KAMA expanded its capacity, above all for Rilsan coating. Ten new jobs were created in the company.

For the company’s 111th anniversary the company published the KAMA chronicle “Menschen – Leben – Maschinen: Gestanzte Geschichte” which appeared in print at the end of 2005/beginning of 2006. The book tells the fascinating story of the company’s development which spans four very different social systems. At the IPEX 2006 in Birmingham, KAMA presented the die cutter TS 74 in a new design and with numerous finishing options, very short set-up times and an increased performance of up to 5,000 sheets per hour.

As of 1 July, 2006 KAMA and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG expanded their co-operation in the area of sales and marketing to include Germany and Switzerland, while continuing on in Canada, the USA, South America, Africa as well as some the countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore there is a co-operation with the Heidelberg sales and marketing partners Middle East and the Buhrmann Group.

In March 2007 KAMA introduced a hologram stamping module for the finishing die cutter ProCut 74. In addition to hologram foils and security foils, the unit also processes the full range of hot foils.

In June KAMA presented the automatic die cutter ProCut 105 with a new design, new electronics and an easy-to-operate touch panel.

In October 2007 KAMA expanded its portfolio to include a new product line and presented a newly developed folder-gluer, the ProFold 74. A patent application has been filed for the unique tool mounting grid.