Andreas Pleßke has taken over as CEO of Koenig & Bauer on the retirement of Claus Bolza-Schünemann, after nine years at the head of business where his family remains a major shareholder.
The transition was announced in June last year, ahead of the publication of the Performance 24X programme to right size the business in light of structural changes in the printing industry and the growth of digital, both in terms of how the business operates and the products it develops and offers.
Looking back on a 30-year career with the press manufacturer, Bolza-Schünemann points to the introduction of the Colortronic inking system at Ipex 1990 as one of the highlights of that career. In an interview published on YouTube he also noted the development of servo drives for web offset and newspaper presses, “waterless, shiftless, oil-less” and many features found on or developed for bank note and security presses.
The incoming CEO has been a board member for six years “a very short period in light of this company’s history” and a period that “I have really enjoyed” Pleßke says. He joined to run a Fit4All development programme and as CEO will take personal charge of HR, legal and compliance and group marketing functions. Other roles that the outgoing CEO fulfilled will be shared across other members of the operating board.
His style will also be different he says, but there will be no switch in strategy. “I believe that we are heading in the right direction.” he says, “focusing on packaging markets where sectors are in very good shape, especially in food, beverages and pharmaceuticals.”
Commercial print and bank note printing are not growing, but nor are they shrinking fast. The reorganisation underway though is necessary. “Part of the programme is to keep investing in new applications and new technology and new business models. The other part is more difficult one of right sizing the company in the context of where the market is today. It’s something that every business has to do every few years.
