The German press manufacturer had flagged a “persistently challenging market environment” in its Q3 results earlier this month.
Today (29 November), CEO Dr Andreas Pleßke said he had personally initiated the changes, in close consultation with the group’s supervisory board.
“The Group’s top priority is to align itself with its customers and markets and to streamline decision-making paths within its business units,” he stated.
The previous three divisions of Sheetfed, Digital & Webfed, and Special will be consolidated into two new segments: Paper & Packaging Sheetfed Systems (P&P), and Special & New Technologies (S&NT).
P&P will include the corrugated products under K&B’s joint venture with Celmacch, that were previously part of Digital & Webfed. The joint venture with Durst, already part of Sheetfed, remains here too.
P&P will focus on “high growth” folding cartons and corrugated markets, including post-press processing, while commercial sheetfed printing will “remain a further priority”.
The S&NT business includes banknote and security printing presses, special presses for metal, glass and hollow container printing, and the remaining activities of what had been the stubbornly loss-making Digital & Webfed division.
It includes the digital web and flexo web printing products, and special projects such as K&B’s alliance with Volkswagen’s PowerCo business for dry coating of battery cells.
K&B said that inspection systems and protection technologies would be spun-off into a separate Vision & Protection business unit.
As a result of the revamp – with various responsibilities devolved to the two new units – the role of COO has been eliminated and Michael Ulverich will leave the company on 30 November.
He had been on the board since 2022 and had a service contract that runs until 2026.
The executive board is to be reduced to two: Pleßke and CFO Dr Stephen Kimmich.
It currently comprises five members (including the departing Ulverich). The other two are long-standing employees at the group: Sheetfed CEO Ralf Sammeck, whose service contract expires next year; and Christoph Müller who heads up Group Service. His contract expires in 2026.
Koenig & Bauer said the members of the executive board were “closely integrated in the strategic management of the segments”.
“In the course of 2025, further steps to reorganise the executive board will be taken incrementally,” the group stated.
Alongside the restructure K&B announced that Christian Steinmaßl, who has been executive vice president at rival press manufacturer Heidelberg’s packaging division for just over two years, will join the group on 1 December in an as-yet-unspecified role, reporting to the executive board.
K&B said Steinmaßl would be “taking on a key role in the new Special & New Technologies segment and holding responsibility for production, the Vision & Protection and Kyana (formerly Digital Unit) business units and operational shared services within the group”.
Heidelberg had not commented on its plans to replace Steinmaßl at the time of writing.
In its Q3 update K&B flagged that operating earnings for the full year will come in at the lower end of the forecasted range of €25m-€40m (£21m-£33m), but it expected to achieve its revenue target of around €1.3bn despite the challenging market situation – if Q4 trading lives up to expectations.
K&B shares were up 4.85% following the news at €12.98 (52-week high: €14.48, low: €6.92).
