Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

Epple – A story of innovations

Passion for the exceptional is tradition at Epple, as already proven by the fathers of the current Epple Druckfarben AG. In 1870, Theodor Bernhard Albert Klotzsch established a letterpress printing ink factory in Radebeul, near Dresden. From 1875 on it became very colourful in the former Robert Gysae carbon black factory, as this was where the production of coloured printing inks, as well as various printing aids, began.

In 1895, Johann Nepomuk Otto Baer took over the company and subsequently guided it to fame as the Otto Baer ink factory. When Carl Epple took over as managing director in 1914 they were already producing products of exceptional quality by the standards of that time. Special recipes and high quality precursors have been the focus from the beginning of the company and still determine the distinction between Epple and their competitors, to this day.

After the expropriation of the firm during the Second World War, the company was successfully re-launched at the location in the Augsburg region in 1949, under the name Carl Epple. Following the death of the company founder, his children Karla Berz and Rudolf Epple succeeded him in the management of the company in 1952. In 1956, the factory in Neusäß was built. The following twenty years saw a rapid increase in exports to the European markets.

The internationalisation of the sales markets in the nineties led the company beyond Europe onto the global market. The major contributory factors here were the quality of the products and the innovative strength of the company. The development and market launch of new environmentally friendly generations of printing inks, based on pure vegetable binding agents, underscored the role of the company as technological leaders in their field and since 1999 printers on every continent have used inks from the house of Epple.

Continued success and sustainable growth have determined the course of the company since the turn of the millennium: 2007 saw the expansion of the production area with a newly constructed manufacturing hall, equipped with the most modern technology for sustainable production.

The Epple brand was re-launched at drupa 2016 and the company has consequently expanded its worldwide sales network since then. The passion for the exceptional is still aflame and undiluted after almost 150 years. The food-safe series BoFood® Organic and the pure ink PURe® have positioned Epple as pioneers of sustainable sheetfed offset printing, setting the trend for the industry and customers alike.