The first Managing Director Rainer Mauritz (right) built Muller Martini Austria into a multinational sales organization, which today covers 28 countries from Lake Constance to Vladivostok. In the middle is Rudolf Müller (CEO of Muller Martini), on the left, Roland Henn (the current Managing Director of Muller Martini Austria).

The occasion was all about Muller Martini’s partnership with its customers, according to CEO Rudolf Muller. “When we established our branch in Austria in 1973 it not only opened the door to Austrian customers but also to those in East Europe and Muller Martini to quickly established a good reputation throughout the region, even among the former communist countries. And today we are still ideally positioned in these countries because we are close to the customers,” he said.

The next speaker was Rainer Mauritz, the first Managing Director of Muller Martini Austria. As he reminisced about the early years he often brought smiles to his audience. “I remember particularly well”, he said, “when we first entered the Russian market 20 years ago, because it quickly became clear to me that there were two important ingredients for success: you needed to be able to hold your liquor, and also have a great deal of time and patience.”

150 guests celebrated the 35th anniversary at the head office of MullerMartini Austria in Rannersdorf.

The focus of the anniversary celebration, however, was not the past but Muller Martini’s thriving market presence today. “Muller Martini is a shining example”, said Michael Hochenegg, Managing Director of Holzhausen Druck & Neue Medien GmbH and President of the Verband Druck & Medientechnik Wien (Print and media technology association), “of long-term, business relationships based on partnership and fairness. This theme is well expressed in the Muller Martini motto ‘Grow with us’.”

Muller Martini Austria then presented the results of a specially commissioned study into improving profitability for its print customers. “With this study”, said Roland Henn, Managing Director of Muller Martini Austria, “we aim to give our customers extra support, to help them identify potential profits and to take advantage of competitive opportunities.”

The study was carried out by Georg Kolm, an acclaimed marketing expert and Chairman of Marketing AG, who encouraged the printing industry to do more professional marketing, saying: “This is the way to improve your profitability and attract new customers .” Using an Austrian printing house as an example, Georg Kolm demonstrated that increased marketing efforts lead to tangible benefits.