Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann (57), president and CEO of German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer AG (KBA) since 2003, has resigned with immediate effect from all offices within the group. Mr Bolza-Schünemann announced his decision at the March meeting of the company's supervisory board, citing the substantial losses incurred by the sheetfed division in Radebeul near Dresden last year. His brother Claus (53) is now the sole remaining representative of the founding family on the KBA board.

Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann is making way for personnel changes aimed at turning the division around. Preliminary figures for 2008 issued on the same day reveal that a global slump in demand and extensive restructuring measures resulted in an operating loss of over €180m in the sheetfed division, leading to a pre-tax loss for the group of more than €85m. Accepting Mr Bolza-Schünemann's resignation, KBA chairman Dieter Rampl thanked him on behalf of management and staff for his many services to the company and the print media industry: "In a hostile economic climate such as this, when top managers' sense of responsibility is a matter of heated public debate, we accept your decision with the greatest respect."

Helge Hansen appointed successor

Helge Hansen, CFO since February this year, has been appointed Bolza-Schünemann's successor both as president and as head of human resources in Radebeul. Product development has been taken over by the executive vice-president for production, Dr Frank Junker.

Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann has been on the boards of the parent and various subsidiaries for the past 22 years. Prior to joining the KBA board in Würzburg eleven years ago he was executive vice-president for engineering and development at Albert-Frankenthal in Frankenthal (Palatinate). From 1991 until its merger with the parent in 1998 he was president of east German sheetfed subsidiary KBA-Planeta in Radebeul near Dresden, which was acquired shortly after the fall of the Wall. Strong ties were forged in the years following the collapse of the GDR, when under his guidance Planeta evolved into the biggest engineering firm in east Germany and one of the world's leading manufacturers of sheetfed presses. In 2000 Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann was appointed deputy president and in 2003 president and CEO of KBA, while retaining his remit as head of human resources and product development in Radebeul.

The collapse of export markets has been impacting heavily on the entire press engineering industry since September 2008, and sheetfed activities have been particularly hard hit. KBA's new president Helge Hansen has the impartiality and experience necessary to implement the radical restructuring measures required, and also has valuable contacts in financial markets. Prior to his appointment as CFO Hansen was managing director of KBA-Metronic, which he completely reorganised following its acquisition by KBA in 2004.