Heidelberg has acquired the key parts of the Polar Mohr business, its long term partner for guillotines and cutting systems. This is part of a strategy to build a complete system for packaging printers in particular. Polar Mohr fulfils this brief thanks to its highly automated systems for wet glue an in-mould labels.
Heidelberg is acquiring the technology, the intellectual property, brand rights and further assets of the Polar group giving Heidelberg exclusive rights over the sales, service and marketing rights to the finishing equipment. Polar will continue to manufacture and develop equipment.
The business was formed in 1906 and produced its first guillotine in 1946. It has developed technology around the cutting machine itself with automated handling systems. This has included robotic systems for cutting and strapping labels for square cut products and ram punch and die cutting units for more intricate labels.
However, in 2022 Polar had to seek court protection as post Covid supply chain issues hit its ability to complete production of machinery for lack of electronic components. This led in 2023 to SOL Capital Management becoming a major investor in the business. That has now led to a closer agreement with Heidelberg. This will naturally improve the integration of Polar’s CompuCut set up systems with Heidelberg’s Prinect Production Manager.
“The next logical step for us was the consolidation of this very close relationship,” says SOL managing partner Paul Niederkofler. “This transaction will strengthen the market position of Heidelberg in the postures, label and packaging market on a long term basis. It also leaves Polar Mohr to focus entirely on its core competencies as a developer and manufacturer.”
Heidelberg has been the key distributor for Polar guillotines for more than 50 years. In recent years the guillotine manufacturer has launched a range of smaller guillotines under the Mohr brand which are available through numerous distributors in order to maximise the footprint of the brand. It has been tough for the business to compete with low cost and established machines in this sector.
