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In order to be a successful leader in the high performance inserting industry and to fully satisfy the customer, BÖWE SYSTEC turned to other industry leaders to join the company. This made it possible to meet customers' expectations and requirements. In 1999, the company realized that it was necessary to dedicate software development to its own business unit. Therefore, BÖWE SYSTEC Mailroom Communication GmbH was founded.
At the beginning of the new millennium the special characteristics of the plastic card mailing branch made it necessary to extend the product portfolio. Since our 2002 acquisition of a 60% majority of Protechno Card GmbH, our cooperative venture now offers complex all-around solutions from personalization to insertion.
A decision on the international floor prompted acquisition of a 50% share of its former competitor BELL + HOWELL. Since the beginning of 2003 the newly founded BÖWE BELL + HOWELL in North America covers more than 50% of the market which made BÖWE SYSTEC rise to the world's market leader of inserting systems.
In January 2004 BÖWE SYSTEC strengthened its presence in the area of card personalization. The newly-established subsidiary BÖWE ORGA Cardtec GmbH took over the "Personalization Technology Solutions" (PTS) division with a staff of 40 from ORGA Systems GmbH in Paderborn, Germany. The company develops hardware and software systems for card personalization. The software includes a highly reliable platform that manages orders, machines, users and applications for centralized or decentralized card production.
In July 2004, the activities of the two former subsidiaries Protechno Card GmbH and BÖWE ORGA Cardtec GmbH were combined under the name BÖWE CARDTEC GmbH. With the creation of the new BÖWE CARDTEC GmbH, the card personalization division was unified under a common umbrella.
In autumn of 2004, Roll Systems Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of BÖWE SYSTEC, and the Lasermax division of the Swedish company Stralfors AB set up a joint venture to supply paper handling systems for before and after printing. The newly established joint venture Lasermax Roll Systems AB, based in Ljungby, Sweden, started trading on October 1, 2004. The new company became one of the world's leading suppliers of high-speed paper handling systems, and converting and monitoring solutions for digital printers.
In January 2005, BÖWE SYSTEC AG took over another 10% of its US-subsidiary BÖWE BELL + HOWELL's holdings, now totaling 60%. The remaining shares are to be bought in further annual 10% portions.