PACKAGING HEIDELBERG NEWS ASIA PACIFIC
Gallus: Growing from humble beginnings Three of Heidelberg’s executives talk about how the company went from a homegrown business to a large conglomerate
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allus, a Heidelberg company that manufactures label printing and folding carton presses, has evolved its business since its acquisition. Heidelberg anchor shareholder and senior vice-president of global key accounts Ferdinand Rüesch Snr (FRS), Heidelberg Asia Pacific managing director Thomas Frank (TF), and Heidelberg Australia and New Zealand managing director Richard Timson (RT) caught up with ProPack.pro at Labelexpo 2019 to talk through the company’s progress and transition since its time as an independent family business.
How did Gallus go from a home-grown family-owned company to what it is today? FRS: My grandfather founded the company in 1923. My father took over in 1956 and I took over in 1991. In 1989, Heidelberg was interested in the narrow web, roll-to-roll market where we had a huge presence. So, we inked a partnership. In 2014, Heidelberg and myself exchanged shares, so Heidelberg now owns 100 per cent of Gallus shares and I got to be the anchor shareholder of Heidelberg. Since then, we have been working even more closely together, integrating
1 20 Heidelberg News Asia Pacific
1. Heidelberg Asia Pacific managing director Thomas Frank
services, spare parts, and sales, along with production and assembly. We’re using the synergies from both companies, especially for a demanding product like the Labelfire, where you need a great worldwide service network because you can’t afford to have any downtime. Gallus, before the shareholder exchange, was a mid-sized company that was well-established in conventional technology but needed a digital product. But with a digital product, you need inks and a business model where you can make money on it. So, collaborating with Heidelberg is great for us as the company has access to the inkjet heads and software for colour management. It has been great for us because we are able to bring to the customer a solution from one company. This business opportunity, for me, was the right thing to do. When you’ve been in a family company for so many years, you realise your loop to the customer is very close. But now, as a more complex sales organisation, there needs to be more training involved to achieve that level of stickiness with the customer. In saying that, it gives us a greater opportunity for customer contact. On the flip side, Gallus’ focus has been on label printers. Now we’re getting leads from sheetfed printers that are looking for new business opportunities. So, we now can integrate those printers. The art is to take the best from both sides of the business and put people who understand the customer world at the forefront to lead.
What was it like going from a company that serviced a small market to one that is global? FRS: We grew Gallus to be a wellknown company before we partnered with Heidelberg. We did business on a global level but what the collaboration with Heidelberg allowed was for our global reach to go even further, into countries we didn’t have a presence in. For example, we’re now deep in markets like Russia that we weren’t present in. The labels market is growing – people now get the need to decorate labels more and this opens many doors for printers. We have many sheetfed printers that are looking into growing opportunities, so for the print market
that is shrinking, they can still depend on the label world.
What are the plans for Gallus now that the integration process is underway? FRS: We have started putting manufacturing and assembly lines together. Since 1999, we have been developing offset technology together. Now, our sales and service sides have been put together. Step by step, where it makes sense to put our operations together, we have been doing it and will continue to do it. We have to ensure that when we are putting everything together that we don’t lose the strengths of before. When you’re a big, complex organisation, there are many more layers within the organisation so you have to ensure that the messaging gets through across the organisation and we don’t lose the sense of what our joint goals are and what needs to be done to achieve that. In the coming years, I would like to see the strengths of both companies reinforced.
Thomas, how did you get involved with Heidelberg? TF: After I finished my studies, I did mechanical engineering, I started as a young product manager travelling www.heidelberg.com