The appointments reflect Actega’s commitment to customers and its continuous drive towards innovation and sustainable solutions for the graphic arts industry.

From 1 October, Jan Franz Allerkamp, who was previously the managing director of Actega Metal Print, will assume the role of global business line head for Actega’s paper and board business. Jan Franz Allerkamp replaces Andreas Gipp, who, after having successfully established the paper and board business line, will become the third managing director (CCO) of Eckart, another division of the Altana group, starting 1 October.

Allerkamp said, “After four and a half years in my metal print role, I would like to take the chance for a new challenge. Although the paper and board business line was only founded two years ago, a lot has been achieved by the team — Andreas did a great job in setting up the structure and building a well-run organization and successful team. As a result, Paper and Board is a business on an upward trajectory. For instance, its barrier coatings initiative has huge potential and the folding carton market, with its mega trend towards increased sustainability, also represents major growth for us and for our customers.”

Joining Actega Metal Print as its interim general manager on 1 October, is ex-Heidelberg and industry expert, Stephan Plenz. Having worked for Heidelberg for over 30 years and as a previous board member, Plenz was responsible for several Heidelberg business divisions, including sheetfed, labels, post-press and digital. With a mechanical engineering background and with sustainability close to his heart, Plenz is ideally placed to further build on the success of EcoLeaf and lead it to commercialisation.

Plenz said: “I’m very excited to join Actega. EcoLeaf is such an important technology, poised to eliminate foil waste from the traditional metallization process — it will change the market forever. To achieve this, and following the beta phase, our next big step is to industrialize the solution. This is where I will use my experience of bringing technologies to market, to enable a smooth and successful series-ramp-up.”