FOR more than half a century, Koenig & Bauer Aktiengesellschaft (KBA) Giori was the world’s sole supplier of banknote printing machines. This company has sold 1,500 units of machine to 175 countries. “More than 93 percent of the world’s currency is printed by a Giori machine,” claimed Christopher J. Bradley, a Giori executive.

Since 1990, however, the company based in Lausanne, Switzerland has had one new competitor—the Komori Corporat