Juergen Freier will take up the role at the Israel-headquartered digital post-press specialist on 1 October.

His industry career stretches back for 30 years and includes senior roles at Heidelberg, Gruner + Jahr, Prinovis, Polar and HP.

He spent just over five years at HP and was general manager of the Indigo and PageWide Industrial business in EMEA.

Freier left HP at the end of 2019 and subsequently set up his own consultancy business, JF Projectconsult. 

Highcon CEO Shlomo Nimrodi described Freier as “a high energy, driven strategic thinker and leader who has proved himself in a variety of different environments”.

“With his many years of experience in the industry and his demonstrated customer-centricity, passion, and commitment to success, Juergen fits well with Highcon’s culture and values. Europe is a key market for Highcon. We look forward to him stepping into this critical role, to continue to generate new opportunities for our growth and expand our footprint in Europe.”

Freier said he was excited about the new opportunity. 

“Digitalisation in the packaging industry is at an inflection point. Highcon’s digital finishing solutions are what’s missing to enable a full end-to-end digital manufacturing revolution,” he said. 

Freier will take over from Jens Henrik Osmundsen, who is leaving Highcon after six-and-a-half years. 

Osmundsen’s future plans were not known at the time of writing. 

Highcon raised $45m (£33.5m at the time) at the end of last year via an IPO on the Tel Aviv stock exchange. 

Landa Digital Printing founder Benny Landa is Highcon’s biggest shareholder with a 27.46% stake via Landa Ventures.