MILE STONES
68Pages

Dear readers, hen our son Maximilian takes over as CEO of P rogroup at the turn of the year, an important milestone will have been reached on the journey that our family began in summer 1990. At the time, my husband surprised me with the news that he wanted to give up his p osition as a director of a market-leading company in the packaging industry, and set up his own business. He had a vision. He was convinced that he could revolutionise the packaging industry with a consistent strategy of innovation and growth. It was a plan that filled me with respect and admiration, and won me over from...

_ Progroup’s success is based on entrepreneurial courage, a well-devised strategy and clear __________________________ _ commitment to growth __________________________________________________ 3.2_ When Industry 4.0 was still science fiction _ Innovative customer/supplier relationships _____________________________________________ at Progroup _____________________________________________________________________ 14 3.3_ Dare to take risks and delight in success _ Jürgen Heindl on Progroup's consistent _______________________________________ growth strategy...

Children ask questions, Jürgen Heindl answers _ What the next generation always wanted _______________________________ to ask Progroup’s CEO ____________________________________ The adventure of growing together Marcin Gatner, founder and managing director of Janmar Centrum, on the opportunities in _________________________ the Polish packaging market __________________________ 42 2.3 More than a paycheck _ Boosting the sense of solidarity and team spirit with exceptional ____________________________________________________ incentives...

The Progroup story is as inspiring and thrilling as a captivating tale from the movies. What makes it so special is that all genres are combined in an absorbing and entertaining motion picture. Starting with a thrilling documentation of the milestones, and a gripping science fiction classic all about Industry 4.0, portraits of a fascinating character and his companions, through to an entertaining road movie recounting the adventure along the fascinating Spice Road.

MILE STONES Progroup’s history has been shaped by a clear vision, great entrepreneurial courage and a well-devised strategy. It is based on a clear commitment to growth and the aspiration to lead the way on innovations and technology. LAUNCH WITH PASSION, VISION AND COURAGE Start of a success story: Jürgen Heindl founded Prowell and set himself no less a goal than revolutionising the corrugated board market. His strategy was b ased on two pillars. Firstly, consistently implementing his greenfield strategy, so ensuring that all production facilities and machines were state-of-the-art and...

1998 OPENING OF THE 1ST PACK AGING PARK SECURING COMPETITIVE A DVANTAGES FOR THE CUSTOMER Partnership rather than competition: Once Jürgen Heindl had successfully started his company, he was looking for new approaches to make customers more competitive, avoid transport costs and enable deliveries to be made even more reliably, flexibly and faster. Heindl’s forward-looking idea led to the development of the innovative packaging park concept. He offered his customers the opportunity to construct their plant right next to a corrugated board plant. The aim was to automate deliveries to the...

CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST PAPER MACHINE UNIQUE PAPER PRODUCTION SETS NEW STANDARDS Backward integration as a winning formula: The construc tion of the first paper machine PM1 and the establishment of the new company Propapier was further evidence of Jürgen Heindl’s entrepreneurial courage and true vision. He recognised early on that he needed to make himself m ore independent from an ever more volatile paper market. After all, paper accounts for around 70 per cent of the costs of corrugated board production. As ever, Jürgen Heindl did not do things by halves. In Burg near Magdeburg, he...

PROGROUP SETS STANDARDS IN THE INDUSTRY Jürgen Heindl achieved another technical breakthrough with the construction of the fourth corrugated sheetfeeder plant in Rokycany, Czech Republic: It was the first time that a corrugator machine had manufactured products with a machine width of 3.35 metres rather than the industry-standard widths of 2.50 or 2.80 metres. receive a reliable supply of recovered paper as the raw material, and the corrugated sheetfeeder plants receive the containerboard they require. The foundation of Progroup Logistics was thus a key milestone in the family-run company's...

TRZCINICA ROKYCANY ENTERING THE MARKET IN POLAND IMPORTANT LOCATION IN THE HEART OF EUROPE Another key point in Progroup’s growth story: Although Poland was not the first country in Eastern Europe that Progroup invested in, it has now developed to become one of Progroup’s most important sites outside of G ermany. The corrugated sheetfeeder plant in Stryków, which started operating in 2009, was at the time the biggest in Poland and one of the most productive in Europe, today producing up to 170,000 tonnes of corrugated board with a working width of 3.35 metres and an operating speed of 400...

START OF PRODUCTION AT THE FIRST CHP PLANT PROMOTING INDEPENDENCE FROM FOSSIL FUELS Consistent implementation of the Green Hightech s trategy: Following the backward integration with the paper machines, Jürgen Heindl embarked on the next step in strengthening Progroup's independence. He f ounded Propower GmbH and added a CHP plant to the Eisenhüttenstadt site. It utilises the waste materials that are produced at the plant and supplies steam and power to the PM2 paper machine. This has also reduced the company’s dependence on fossil fuels. This was a highly prescient decision, and this is...

WHEN INDUSTRY 4.0 WAS STILL SCIENCE FICTION I DIGITAL NETWORKING The foundation of Progroup, known as Prowell at the time, not only changed the system for corrugated board production, but also the customer/supplier relationship. The crucial factor was the consistent networking of machines, processes and planning systems right through to the customers. n 1991, the year the company was founded, an efficient form of company management was really important for Jürgen Heindl. His ERP software was not just available off the shelf; it had to be developed. In the software house which was...