Chris Scully has become managing director of Koenig & Bauer UK after the German company decided to combine the managing and sales director roles. Andrew Pang, managing director for almost ten years, has left the company.
The move was unexpected but is a logical response to shrinking markets and Koenig & Bauer’s move to centralise more business functions. It mirrors moves that the press manufacture has made in other markets across the world.
It also comes as the UK company is on a strong run with two Rapida 106X presses being installed at Simply Cartons, another Rapida 106X arriving at Windles in Thame on Tuesday, following delivery of a Rapida 145 seven-colour with double coater to Offset Printing and Packaging in Aylesford.
These follow large format presses for Mayr Melnhof and further orders for large format carton presses. There is also potential for the Rotajet and Koenig & Bauer Durst Varijet 106 inkjet presses.
Each typifies a shift in the market towards project based sales where the configuration of the machine changes according to the specifications of the the individual customer. The press for Windles for example includes LED UV, conventional UV and IR/hot air drying, a configuration that is unique in the UK.
“Because everything is more complicated, more project based, everything needs to be seamless from the early conversations right through to the after sales side,” says Scully. “It’s all about the value we can bring to the customer. And you need to understand what that value is to each customer.”
He joined the business in 2004 crossing over from the prepress having sold plates for DuPont and digital equipment for Creo and Scitex. He became a director of KBA UK, as it was, in 2017.
There are no further changes planned and the operation, centred on Rickmansworth, continues as the hub for spares and service for the UK. Peter Banks continues as service director and Stephanie Thomson as finance director at the head of a team of around 45 comprising sales and service personnel.
Koenig & Bauer CEO Ralf Sammeck says: “We feel that now is the right time to complete the process of merging responsibility for sales and operations in line with other regional subsidiaries where it has proved successful and very effective.
“We would like to thank Andrew Pang for his many years of outstanding service. For almost a decade he has safely guided Koenig & Bauer UK through both local and global changes and challenges and leaves the company well positioned for the future.”
