German thin film technology specialist Leonhard Kurz has started the new fiscal year with a leadership change.
The company’s long-serving CEOs Walter and Peter Kurz, retire from the operational side of the business and take up advisory functions handing over the position to Dr Andreas Hirschfelder, previously senior vice president of the plastic decoration business area.
Dr Hirschfeld has been with the company for the last 26 years, working in various roles, including CEO of the subsidiaries PolyIC and Burg Design. Since 2018, he has also been responsible for the plastic decoration division as senior vice president and management board member.
“I’m delighted by the confidence the Kurz family have placed in me,” Dr Hirschfelder commented on his appointment.
“Continuing the Leonhard Kurz success story is both an honour and an incentive – especially in the challenging times we currently live in. But I am convinced that, as an international team, we can meet this challenge and continue to delight our customers in future.”
In a joint statement, Walter and Peter Kurz stated, “We are handing over a highly innovative company that is financially very healthy. We have every confidence that Dr Andreas Hirschfelder will lead Kurz to continued success.”
The newly founded advisory board will comprise Walter Kurz, Peter Kurz, Andreas Kurz, Dr Katharina Kurz, Anja Kurz and two external members. This will ensure that the company continues as a family business. The company’s legal form (Stiftung und Co. KG) will remain unaltered by the change in leadership.
The above changes mean the management board is also being partly reorganised: Thomas Hertlein, previously executive vice president of Kurz Transfer Products USA, becomes a member of the executive board. Rainer Süßmann succeeds Dr Hirschfelder as senior vice president of plastic decoration. Both add their strength to that of existing management board members: Werner Adel, Markus Hoffmann, Ralph Hopfensitz and Dirk Bockwinkel.
Since the early/mid-70s, Walter and Peter Kurz have developed the Fürth-based family business, founded in 1899, into one of the world’s most successful experts in attractive, functional surface finishing.
The decorative, functional layers applied to carrier foil are used in countless everyday products such as cosmetics packaging, wine bottle labels, household devices, and plastic components for cars. One mainstay is the creation of security features. The group is represented in more than 30 locations worldwide and employs over 5,500 people.
In 2021, Kurz joined the UN Global Compact Network, an initiative for sustainable, responsible company management. A comprehensive sustainability report was published in 2022. The range of products and services is also continually being made more environment- and climate-friendly.
