Kodak Polychrome Graphics has coaxed Hoechst veteran Peter Blum out of retirement to become the new head of its crucial European operations, and has also announced two further key appointments in the region.
Blum joined on Monday (5 June), and will be based out of KPGs Harrow office. He retired from Agfa (which acquired Hoechsts plate business in 1996) last December, but then received a personal call from KPG chairman Ed Barr about the vacant KPG Europe job.

"Im happy to take on this challenge and Im looking forward to it very positively," said Blum, who fills the void left by former European chief Patrick Berard. He quit the group in January after a fall-out with then-chief executive Mark Stewart, himself subsequently replaced by Jeff Jacobson in April.

Europe is KPGs largest single market, and the firm is also intends to sharpen its pan-European focus on both sales and marketing and logistics. It has created two new senior positions: Stphane Livain, formerly director general of KPG France, becomes European vice president of sales and marketing; and worldwide logistics specialist Michael Brown becomes European vice president of logistics.