Jürgen Heindl, founder of Progroup AG, celebrates his 70th birthday on 29 January. As a pioneer in the corrugated board and paper industry, he used his vision as an entrepreneur not just to create a market leader, but to really transform the industry.
Clear vision – persuasive business model
Right at the start of his career, Heindl spotted a gap in the market: Small and medium-sized packaging manufacturers without their own corrugated board production facility were dependent on the large suppliers in the industry, usually competitors, and this gave them an unfavourable position in the market.
This gave him a clear vision: By specialising and using the best technologies in plants situated on greenfield sites, he wanted to be a high-performance, reliable producer of corrugated board sheets for medium-sized cardboard manufacturers – without being a competitor to these customers by producing his own packaging. The fact that these manufacturers were also almost all family-run businesses like Progroup reinforced the deep level of trust between Heindl and his partners right from the start.
Heindl therefore created a win-win situation for his company and his customers along with a persuasive business model. In December 1991, he founded Prowell GmbH, the predecessor to today’s Progroup AG. The first state-of-the-art corrugated sheetfeeder plant started operating in Offenbach an der Queich back in 1992. Today, the family business has 13 corrugated sheetfeeder plants in Central Europe, making it one of the leading suppliers in the corrugated board market and the sheetfeeding market leader. Three paper machines and a waste-to-energy plant have been added over the years to safeguard the company’s raw material supply and achieve cost leadership; another waste-to-energy plant and a corrugated sheetfeeder plant are currently under construction.
Foundations of success: strong partnerships and innovations
Long-term partnerships based on trust are the foundation of Heindl’s success.
“We don’t just view our customers as business partners; as family businesses we also share the same values such as reliability and sustainability,” he explains. Progroup is still noted today for the very close cooperation it has with other family-run companies.
This is particularly evident in the company’s innovative packaging parks concept: This is where Progroup either constructs a plant right next door to its customers or invites customers to set themselves up immediately adjacent to a Progroup plant. In this concept, the corrugated board sheets are transported to the packaging production facility via conveyor belts. This innovative model places customers alongside integrated corrugated board factories, significantly reduces costs in the value chain and increases the level of flexibility and reliability in the supply chain. CO₂ emissions are reduced significantly because there is no need for any goods to be transported by truck.
Part of Progroup’s DNA: Sustainability and a thirst for adventure
Sustainability is a key part of everything that Heindl does as a businessman: “As a family entrepreneur, you think very much about the generations to come and everything you do is geared to ensuring that you bequeath them a world worth living in,” says Heindl in explaining his firm belief in championing production technologies that conserve resources. This requires state-of-the-art production facilities and highly trained and motivated employees.
The trips he has been on with his employees, with customers and friends are legendary. They have travelled to Norway, Malta, southern Spain – and along the Silk Road to China, the cradle of paper production, when the team also crossed the vast steppes of Mongolia. “If you’ve ever shared a night in a yurt with other people, you have a different understanding of each other and work together in a completely different way,” says Heindl.
Generational change and new roles
At the turn of 2022/2023, Jürgen Heindl handed over the role of CEO to his son Maximilian. As deputy chairman of Progroup’s Supervisory Board and managing director of JH Holding GmbH, Heindl remains a key figure for the company and the industry. His son Vinzenz is also actively involved as managing director of the Professionals Academy, which helps customers to develop long-term strategies right along the value chain.
Heindl’s achievements in business have earned him numerous awards, including the Business Medal of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate (2021) and Admission to the Hall of Fame for Family-Owned Businesses (2023). His life’s work demonstrates in impressive style how courage, vision and entrepreneurial responsibility can generate long-term success.
Photo:Progroup
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