On 26 September 2025, Koenig & Bauer Vision and Protection GmbH celebrated its 25th anniversary. At the invitation of the OWL-based company, co-founder Prof. Dr. Volker Lohweg from inIT was also in attendance.
From start-up to thriving company
Twenty-five years ago, the site was newly founded as "Koenig & Bauer Bielefeld" by Koenig & Bauer AG, Würzburg, as a start-up. At that time, Koenig & Bauer Bielefeld was founded by five people: Carsten Diederichs, Volker Lohweg, Jörn Sacher, Thomas Türke and Harald Willeke. Other employees joined the company later on. Prof. Dr. Volker Lohweg was the company's managing director from July 2000 to July 2004. During this time, his team developed the first high-precision online colour inspection systems for banknote production.
In the years that followed, the company, now operating under the name Koenig & Bauer Vision and Protection GmbH, experienced tremendous growth thanks to its successful products.
Trusting cooperation
Prof. Dr. Volker Lohweg's expertise in the field of banknote production and verification is reflected in his work at inIT, where he represents the field of Discrete Systems with the working group "Image Processing and Pattern Recognition and Sensor and Information Fusion". His focus is on industrial real-time image processing and pattern recognition as well as sensor and information fusion for the application areas of document security, i.e. inspection and analysis of banknotes and documents, automation, and medical and health technologies.
Research at inIT in the field of banknote authentication is closely linked to Koenig & Bauer AG. For example, research associates have moved directly from inIT to Koenig & Bauer Vision and Protection GmbH. Eugen Gillich, Jan Leif Hoffmann and Jan-Friedrich Ehlenbröker still work there and continue to be associated with inIT in research and teaching.
Volker Lohweg is clearly delighted with this development: "It's wonderful to see how a small seedling planted 25 years ago has grown into such a successful company. The fact that inIT employees are now also working there fills me with great personal satisfaction."