According to a company spokesman Spiegel was not leaving to join any other company.

Although Spiegel is not being directly replaced Jrgen Rautert, with responsibilities for engineering and manufacturing, joins chief executive Bernhard Schreier and chief financial officer Herbert Meyer on the three man  management board.

Spiegel will continue act as an advisor to Heidelberg.

Spiegel joined the management board in 1995 as an acting member responsible for R&D, becoming a full member in 1997 responsible for sheetfed presses.

Following the restructuring of the management board last October, where the five-member board was slimmed to three, Spiegel was made responsible for entire product portfolio and marketing.

Heidelberg is also changing its supervisory board following RWE's sale of its share of company.

RWE board member Klaus Sturany will resign as chairman of Heidelberg's supervisory board at the shareholders meeting on 21 July and be replaced by Mark Wssner, chairman of Citigroup Global Markets Germany and ex-chairman of media giant Bertelsmann.

"As Heidelberg's new alignment has been completed in almost all aspects, today's supervisory board decisions have now set the scene for the new management board," said outgoing chairman Sturany. "We wish the team under Bernhard Schreier's leadership a good hand at accomplishing the tasks ahead."

Story by Darryl Danielli