Major changes at Koenig & Bauer

Koenig & Bauer (K&B) has announced a series of group realignments including eliminating a senior position and reducing its company segments from three to two.

The changes were reportedly initiated by K&B chief executive officer Dr Andreas Pleßke in close consultation with the company’s supervisory board.

The position of central chief operating officer is to be eliminated after Michael Ulverich left the company by mutual agreement. Ulverich left K&B and stepped down from the executive board, effective from November 30^th.

The new executive board has therefore been reduced to two: Pleßke and chief financial officer Dr Stephen Kimmich.

The company’s previous three divisions of Sheetfed, Digital & Webfed, and Special will also be consolidated into two new segments, namely Paper & Packaging Sheetfed Systems (P&P) and Special & New Technologies (S&NT).

The newly formed P&P segment will focus on end-to-end solutions for the folding box and corrugated cardboard box markets, including pre-print and post-print.

The segment will include K&B’s corrugated cardboard activities under the Celmacch joint venture, previously assigned to the Digital & Webfed segment, as well as the activities of the Durst joint venture.

K&B deputy chief executive officer and chief financial officer, Dr Stephen Kimmich, explains: “The bundling of folding carton and corrugated board activities in one segment is our response to customer needs due to the strong technological and cross-customer overlap of these groups.

“Koenig & Bauer is thus continuing to develop as a ‘one-stop shop’ for cardboard and corrugated board packaging.”

The S&NT segment will consolidate previous activities from the Special and Digital & Webfed divisions. Activities of the Special divisions included banknote and security printing as well as metal, glass, and hollow container direct printing. Digital & Webfed activities included special packaging printing applications such as web digital and flexo web printing.

Christian Steinmaßl has also joined the group management, taking on a key role in the S&NT segment. Steinmaßl, who will report to the executive board, has over 25 years of experience in the paper and packaging industry for companies including Heidelberg and Voith Paper.

Speaking of the restructure, chairman of the K&B supervisory board, Dr Raimund Klinkner, explains: “This structure, which has been agreed upon jointly between the supervisory board and the executive board, will ensure that decisions are aligned more closely to the business model, while the leaner structures will increase the speed at which decisions are made and help to optimise costs.

“All these plans are embedded in a gradual generational transition in 2024 and 2025 from today’s long-standing members of the executive board to candidates who constitute an excellent fit for the company’s strategic priorities.”

Pleßke adds: “The Group’s top priority is to align itself with its customers and markets and to streamline decision-making paths within its business units.”