Frank Ruckriegel, far left, owner of Druckriegel, hung an American flag in honor of our visit. Also in the photo, left to right, are Bart Jordan, Babs Jordan, Ed Avis and Steve Wakefield.
By Ed Avis
A highlight of the 2024 IRgA visit to Germany was meeting with two reprographics shop owners in Frankfurt (click here to read the overview article about the trip). What we learned was that COVID, and subsequent challenging world events, have seriously affected their business. But they are innovating to keep the lights on.
Druckriegel: Fulfillment, ID Cards, Portals
Our first visit was with Frank Ruckriegel of Druckriegel (the German word “drucken” means “to print,” so the company name is a clever combination). His company has some large-format printing equipment, but his primary business is small-format digital printing.
For example, one project that his staff was working on while were there was for a travel agency. Druckriegel prints customized travel booklets using variable data. Each book contains the travel highlights for a particular customer’s upcoming trip – including the itinerary, phot
Druckriegel offers a fulfillment service.
os, local sights to see, etc.
His employee count is down by about half since before COVID. One major client, an international church, started offering its literature digitally during COVID, which naturally cut out the printing work.
But COVID was just the first blow. The war in Ukraine came next. This conflict raised prices on many products, including energy, in Europe. And the general fear of a war that close dampened the economy. Construction in Germany is predicted to shrin
This equipment makes plastic ID cards.
k 3.5 percent this year, according to a Reuters news article.
Then came the war in Israel and Palestine, another international conflict that
has affected Europe. The protests and political maneuvering are stressful. This situation particularly aggrieves Ruckriegel, as he has close friends in Israel.
But he has persisted and developed some interesting new markets. For example, he is using some of his excess warehouse capacity to offer fulfillment services to companies. He stores their goods and packs and ships them to customers when they’re ordered. One interesting client for this service makes small forklifts. Several shelves in the warehouse hold cartons of these little forklifts, ready to be shipped.
Another market he has entered is plastic ID badges. When a client asked him to provide these, he found the right piece of equipment to make them and ended up with a satisfied client.
He also has developed a digital storefront strategy. He creates customized portals for his clients, pre-populated with the custom products they commonly order. When they need something, they go to the portal and effortlessly place the order. This makes it easy for the client and essentially “locks in” the client for Druckriegel.
Irmschler-Ruppert: Merging, Scanning, Color
Our second shop tour was at Irmschler-Ruppert. The company is traditional reprographics, and the challenges of COVID, etc. have substantially diminished that work. People simply don’t print like they used to.
Michael Irmschler and his daughter, Dana Rühlemann
But just like Druckriegel, Irmschler-Ruppert has found new ways to survive. The first move, during COVID, was to merge with another firm. Irmschler-Ruppert previously was two companies – Irmschler Repro and Repro Ruppert. They were friendly competitors, and when the market shrunk, it made sense to unite.
The combined company now occupies the space that Irmschler previously had for itself, and Michael Irmschler, previously the leader of Irmschler Repro, and Thomas Schulz, who was president of Repro Ruppert, work side by side as co-presidents.
Repro Ruppert was located in downtown Frankfurt, about 12 kilometers from the current location of the combined firm. Schulz lives near his previous shop, and he maintains his old customers by picking up or dropping off work as he travels to and from the new location.
Another way the company has remained in the black is by expanding its scanning services. Like many IRgA members, they have figured out that giant archives of old documents can be gold for a repro firm. Not only are they making money from the scanning work, but they are also storing the scanned documents in excess space in their office…and earning healthy monthly storage fees. This is a market they hope to grow.
Irmschler-Ruppert also has a solid wide-format color graphics business. They make banners, posters, window clings, displays and much more. Michael’s daughter, Dana Rühlemann, runs that department.
The innovations and persistence of Druckriegel and Irmschler-Ruppert are inspiring. Visiting these shops and conversing with Frank and Michael made us realize how similar German repro firms are to U.S. repro firms, and how important it is to keep looking ahead.