Frank Schaum is heading Gallus, the label division of Heidelberg in St Gallen, Switzerland since the beginning of March 2020. He succeeds Christof Naier, who left the company at his own request.
Frank Schaum studied mechanical engineering at the University of Kaiserslautern and received his doctorate at the Technical University in Darmstadt in Germany. He started his professional career at Heidelberg in 1992 as a product developer. His professional career was characterized by different management functions within the Heidelberg Group. Between 2014 and 2018, he was responsible for the postpress division, among other things. All of the company’s activities relating to sheet punching, folding box gluing, inspection systems for folding boxes, as well as folding and cutting are bundled in one organization. Most recently, he worked for the Heidelberg Group in corporate development. At the beginning of March this year, he took over the responsibility for the label division, which is reflected in the Gallus brand.
“It is my goal to evolve the Gallus brand with its products and services in the growing market of label business. In doing so, we consistently will continue to pursue our way of digitization and we will provide our customers with sustainable support in the development of their individual business models,” explains Frank Schaum. “We stand by our customers during the current crisis and we will do everything possible thus they can continue operating successfully in their markets.”
Gallus with production facilities in Switzerland and Germany, is a leading company in the development, production of conventional and digital narrow-web , reel-fed presses designed for the label and packaging business. The machine portfolio is augmented by a broad range of screen printing plates (Gallus Screeny), globally decentralised service operations, and a broad offering of printing accessories and replacement parts. Products and services of the Gallus brand are distributed through the global Heidelberg sales and service network. The comprehensive portfolio also includes consulting services provided by label experts in all relevant printing and process engineering tasks. Gallus employs around 273 people, of whom 163 are based in Switzerland.
What’s happening at Gallus and Heidelberg or should I say, Heidelberg and Gallus, better still Heidelberg-Gallus? Is this part of the Action plan and the 2,000 redundancies. We await clarification from the Heidelberg India team, who must speak and tell their customers what is going on since they and we have been meeting Christof Naier in India and in Brussels and St. Gallen for so many years.
As Heidelberg-Gallus becomes more fighting fit and trims down, it must also empower its Asian and Indian team to speak out meaningfully about what’s happening rather than merely parroting press releases. We are mature business persons who have a stake in what the company does to improve and survive.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree and think that we Indian customers and industry experts are just self-interested humbugs? Write to me if you have an opinion. Or post a comment here.