Agfa

Agfa-Gevaert N.V. develops, manufactures and distributes analogue and digital products and systems for the making, processing, and reproduction of images.

Overview

Headquartered in Mortsel Antwerp Belgium, Agfa has 40 national sales organizations, operates in 120 countries, and has 17,000 employees (full time equivalent permanent) worldwide. Agfa has manufacturing plants in Belgium, Germany, Italy, China, and the United States.

Agfa is traded on the Brussels and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges (Reuters ticker AGFAt.BR/AGEG.DE, Bloomberg ticker AGFB BB/AGE GR, Datastream B:AGF). Net sales for 2003 totaled 4.2 billion Euros.

Consumer sales account for only a small portion of Agfa's business with 95% of sales being business-to-business.

Company Structure

Agfa is organized into four business groups as follows.

Graphic Systems

Digital and analogue prepress systems, software and consumables.

• Computer-to-film and computer-to-plate systems.
• Graphic film, printing plates.
• Digital proofing systems.
• Large format printing (e.g. billboards, wallpaper, textiles).
• High quality printing (e.g. bank notes).
• The Agfa font collection.

Health Care

Medical Imaging and Information Management systems.

• Digital Radiography modality (DR).
• Computed Radiography modality (CR).
• PACS systems for radiology and cardiology.
• Information systems for radiology and cardiology.
• Conventional radiology film and film developing equipment.
• Film and paper printers.
• Orthopedics workstation.
• Women's Care (mammography) products.
• Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and enterprise information systems.

Consumer Imaging

Photographic products for the consumer market and equipment and consumables for photofinishing labs.

• Film, e.g. 35mm, etc.
• Photographic chemicals.
• Photographic paper.
• Automated film developing and printing equipment.
• Web album hosting.
• Online photo print ordering.

Specialty Products

Consumables (motion picture film, microfilm, film for non-destructive testing) for specific markets.

Company History

• 1867 The company ActienGesellchaft für Anilin-Fabrikation was founded in Rummelsburg near Berlin as a manufacturer of dyes and stains. It became a public limited company in 1873. The founders were Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (brother of composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy) and Carl Alexander von Martius.

• 1894 The company L. Gevaert & Cie was founded in Antwerp, Belgium, arising from the workshop for the manufacture of photographic paper belonging to Lieven Gevaert.

• 1897 Appearance of the Agfa trade mark.

• 1912 Bayer builds a factory in Leverkusen, in which film chemicals and later also photographic papers are manufactured.

• 1925 As part of the consolidation of the German chemical industry, the photographic activities are combined with those of Bayer, including a camera factory in Munich.

• During the Second World War Agfa became part of IG Farben, a conglomerate of all German chemical industries. When the Allies broke up IG Farben after it was found guilty of war crimes, Agfa reappeared as an individual business. An Agfa plant located in what was to become East Germany became the foundation of Orwo.

• 1952 Re-establishment of Agfa AG as a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer in Leverkusen.

• 1964 Merger of Agfa AG and Gevaert Photo-Producten N.V. with Bayer AG and Gevaert each holding a 50% interest in the new operating company.

• 1981 Bayer buys out Gevaert and becomes 100% owner.

• 1988 Acquisition of Compugraphic Corporation.

• 1990 Sale of the magnetic tape business.

• 1996 Acquisition of Hoechst's printing plate and proofing business.

• 1998
  • Acquisition of Dupont's offset printing and graphic arts film business.
  • Sale of the company's Copier Systems business to Lanier Worldwide Inc.
  • Acquisition of CEA AB.
  • Acquisition of Monotype Typography Inc.

• 1999
  • Acquisition of Sterling Diagnostic Imaging.
  • Agfa listed on Brussels and Frankfurt stock exchanges.

• 2000
  • Acquisition of Krautkramer, a producer of ultrasonic systems for non-destructive testing.
  • Acquisition of Quadrat, a European producer of radiology information systems.

• 2001
  • Acquisition of Autologic, an American producer of systems for prepress automation.
  • Acquisition of Talk Technology, a producer of medical voice recognition systems.
  • Acquisition of the German company Seifert and the American company Pantak, producers of industrial X-ray equipment for non-destructive testing applications.
  • Acquisition of a minority interest in MediVision, a developer and manufacturer of digital imaging systems for ophthalmology.

• 2002 Acquisition of Mitra Imaging Inc., a developer of medical imaging and information systems for healthcare.

• 2003
  • Opening of new printing plate factory in Wuxi, China.
  • Sale of non-destructive testing business to General Electric.
  • Acquisition of Granite Systems, a producer of software drivers for printers, multifunction devices and digital presses.

• 2004
  • Acquisition of Dotrix, a Belgian producer of digital color printing systems for industrial applications.
  • Acquisition of Lastra, an Italian manufacturer of plates, chemicals and equipment for the offset printing industry.
  • Sale of the consumer imaging division to a company founded via management buy out, named AgfaPhoto, and held by an investment company. Agfa grants permission for AgfaPhoto to use the Agfa name in perpetuity.
  • Acquisition of ProImage, an Israeli developer of browser-based digital workflow solutions for the newspaper and printing industries.

Sources

• An employee of Agfa.
• The official Agfa website.