New leadership for Self-adhesive Materials division
Located in Filderstadt near Stuttgart (Germany), HERMA GmbH today confirmed a planned change in management. On 1 March 2021 Dr. Guido Spachtholz (47) is to succeed Dr. Thomas Baumgärtner, who is retiring, as managing director and head of the self-adhesive technology specialist’s Self-adhesive Materials division. According to chief executive Sven Schneller, “He will be taking over from his predecessor a division that is in great shape after 16 years of growth and success, and recognised in the industry as a highly efficient innovation leader. He continues, “Apart from Dr. Baumgärtner’s track record, working together in such a tremendous spirit of trust has been an absolute pleasure and enabled us not only to achieve extremely ambitious goals, but also to overcome the economic challenges that arose during the period of our collaboration.” Dr. Spachtholz will start to familiarise himself with his new roles in Filderstadt, where further major expansion work was recently completed, in January.
Growing faster than the market
Dr. Baumgärtner assumed responsibility for the Self-adhesive Materials division when he joined HERMA as managing director in 2005. His drive enabled the division to emerge as the primary innovator, in pursuit of the goal to grow continuously faster than the market. “His achievement in fulfilling this objective is still proving invaluable in propelling the entire company forwards,” insists Fritz-Jürgen Heckmann, chairman of the HERMA advisory board. In addition, he says, “HERMA’s shareholders and the advisory board are exceedingly grateful to Dr. Baumgärtner both for his highly successful directorship and for setting lasting technological benchmarks and efficiency standards.” The new production facility that entered service this year has not only accomplished a further advance in innovation, but also raised the annual adhesive material capacity by 50 percent, to 1.2 billion square metres. Dr. Baumgärtner comments, “From an overall perspective, I am especially proud that we have long been regarded as a company that takes care of natural resources and the environment. For our products we have won the German Packaging Prize in the sustainability category on several occasions, and in production we have reduced and optimised our material consumption while significantly improving energy efficiency at the same time. These are key contributory factors in enabling us to reach our climate-neutral target from 2021. I am very grateful for the opportunity I had to play a role in this holistic policy and be part of the inspiring HERMA team.”
More innovative than competitors
Dr. Guido Spachtholz, like his predecessor, was awarded his doctorate in engineering. He was most recently a member of the board of management of Chiron Group, a specialist in CNC machining centres and turnkey manufacturing solutions headquartered in Tuttlingen. He is a native Rhinelander and previously worked for Stama Maschinenfabrik GmbH, which belongs to Chiron Group, and Alfred Schütte GmbH, a leading supplier of multi-spindle automatic lathes and 5-axis CNC grinding machines. “Dr. Spachtholz will be using his extensive experience in the innovation-led international industrial business to shape HERMA’s strategic growth and continue along the successful path established by Dr. Baumgärtner,” remarks Sven Schneller. In outlining his forthcoming role, Dr. Spachtholz says, “I will be systematically and boldly enhancing the company’s already strong position in the self-adhesive materials business by continuously improving all development and production processes and pursuing a progressive international orientation. I am certainly looking forward to joining a HERMA team that is capable of being more innovative than the competition whenever possible.”