By 2016, Europe’s most modern and effective decorative printing location will be created in Buttenwiesen, Germany.
The printing activities of the Süddekor Group, which has been a part of SURTECO SE since the end of 2013, will be strategically integrated into the Group with headquarters in Buttenwiesen-Pfaffenhofen, Germany. At today’s employees meeting in Laichingen, the Management Board announced the decision that decorative printing activities for the SURTECO Group will in future be concentrated at the Buttenwiesen location. As a result, the printing division and the laboratory facilities belonging to Süddekor GmbH, plant I, will be relocated from Laichingen to Buttenwiesen. The varnishing (film) business segment belonging to Süddekor GmbH, plant II, will remain in Laichingen. Likewise, Dakor Melaminimprägnierungen GmbH, Heroldstatt, is unaffected by the decision and will remain in its current location.
“After having standardised the sales structures following the takeover of Süddekor, the focus is now on optimising our production network,” explains Friedhelm Päfgen, a member of SURTECO SE’s Management Board. “By doing so, we intend to strengthen our competitiveness over the long term and position ourselves in a more performance-oriented way with regard to our customers. The goal is to develop Europe’s most modern and effective decorative printing location in Buttenwiesen.”
With the relocation slated to be completed by 2016, SURTECO SE is focusing on a single decorative printing location and effectively bundling there its decades of competencies. The long-serving employees, who are particularly important in terms of knowledge transfer, are at the centre of those measures. A concept will be drawn up with the employee representatives in order to convince as many of the Laichingen employees as possible to accept a position in Buttenwiesen, which is roughly 100 kilometres from Laichingen. The company’s management will actively support that process.
Integration also means that there will be changes within Süddekor’s management team. As of 30 June 2014, Dr Jürgen Dambrowski and Dr Steffen Griffel, the two members of SGE Papier’s management team, which combines the paper segment within the SURTECO Group, will be leaving the company. “We’ve successfully completed our task of putting the Süddekor Group into good hands and now we can pass on the reins as planned,” explains Dr Steffen Griffel. SGE’s management team is now made up of Reinhold Affhüppe, Dieter Baumanns and Dr Gereon Schäfer. SGE’s chairman, Dr Gereon Schäfer, offers a word of thanks: “We’d like to thank Dr Griffel and Dr Dambrowski for their thoroughly constructive and good cooperation. Along with regret for their departure, we of course can also understand their decision. We wish both of you all the best in your future challenges.”