[6] In 1856, Hamm met Andreas Albert, a mechanical engineering manager, with whom he decided to produce high-speed presses in loose cooperation.

[7] After Andreas Albert's departure in 1873, Hamm devoted himself increasingly to bell casting, including the Kaiserglocke for Cologne Cathedral.

[10] Rising raw material prices and declining demand led to a crisis for the company at the turn of the century, as a result of which the factory, then called Schnellpressenfabrik A. Hamm AG, became the property of Rheinische Creditbank in Mannheim and Darmstädter Bank für Handel und Industrie.

Fortunately for Schnellpresse, the profitable parts of the Kahn Group, including Schnellpressenfabrik with its subsidiaries Maschinenfabrik Geislingen (MAG) and C. Maquet AG, had already been spun off in 1931 at the insistence of the banks.

The company suffered a serious setback for its domestic business in 1935, during Nazi Germany, when Max Amann, the president of the Reichspressekammer, issued several decrees that allowed the liquidation of publishing houses that did not conform to the system and prohibited the establishment of new printing plants.

It secured major orders from Magdeburger Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik and Gebrüder Heinemann, producing 1,000 precision and turret lathes worth Reichsmark 4.7 million.

[18] The Geislingen plant mainly manufactured shells and bullet casings, while hydraulic units for aircraft were also produced in Heidelberg itself.

[19] Although the armaments command in Mannheim demanded the discontinuation of printing press construction as early as 1940 and the procurement of materials important to the war effort, such as steel, became increasingly difficult, production continued until 1942.

[25] In 1988, Heidelberg acquired the web offset press manufacturer Harris Graphics Corporation with locations in France, the United States and Mexico.

[26] In Hartmut Mehdorn's era as managing director, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG went public for the first time in 1997 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (under the abbreviation HDD).

[36] The financial and economic crisis led to a considerable decline in incoming orders and sales at Heidelberg in 2008, while overcapacities on the global market caused difficulties for pricing.

Short-time working was introduced at all German sites in 2009 and 2010 and loans and federal guarantees amounting to over €700 million had to be applied for in order to stabilize the company's finances.

[37] At the Annual General Meeting in July 2010, the shareholders also approved a capital increase worth around €420 million by a large majority.

[38] Since April 2011, there has been a global strategic partnership with the Japanese electronics manufacturer Ricoh to tap into the growing market for digital printing machines.

[39] At the beginning of November 2013, Heidelberg announced a global strategic partnership with Fujifilm, which was primarily concerned with the development of products for the growing digital printing market.

The same year, the division acquired from Jagenberg for the production of die-cutting and folding box gluing machines was sold to Masterwork Machinery Co. Ltd. (MK) from Tianjin.

[43] In March 2019, the Chinese Masterwork Group, the previous sales partner in the field of machines for the further processing of packaging prints, acquired an 8.5% stake in Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.

[44][45] Particularly in the wake of a difficult market environment in the graphic industry, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG began to offer its own products in other business areas.

Since 2018, this has included the production of wall charging stations for electric vehicles, so-called wallboxes, the electronics of which are also developed by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen.

[47] Within the printing business, the company adopted a subscription model for printers at a per-sheet price, lending out equipment rather than selling it.

[51] Also in 2020, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG's subscription offer was expanded, whereby customers no longer pay for the machine used, but instead for the quantity of printed sheets.

[57] In May 2024, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen and Canon Inc. announced a worldwide cooperation in the areas of sales and service for inkjet printers.

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen is developing a new inkjet product family under the name Jetfire, the technology of which is based on Canon printing machines.

[58] In summer 2024, the company ended the temporary short-time work, that had been implemented in January of the same year due to decreased demand.

[59][60] The company's headquarters as well as research and development, sales, service, and the assembly facilities for most printing presses are located at Wiesloch-Walldorf, 13 kilometers south of Heidelberg.

[68] In Qingpu, Shanghai, around 400 employees primarily manufacture standardized printing presses in all common format classes for the Asian market.