After 13 years, Managing Director Wolfgang Spanny is moving into self-employment. This is the fulfillment of his great dream. He is succeeded by Uwe Karner, who takes over the management of Salzer Formtech on August 1, 2022.
In the last 13 years, Wolfgang Spanny, as Managing Director, made a significant contribution to continuously building up the company, making it fit for the future and thus sustainable for the next generations. He strengthened and consolidated the position in the market and established SALZER FORMTECH as a specialist for innovative products in the field of EPS/EPP molded parts.
Wolfgang Spanny will now realize his big dream and start his own company as interim manager. However, he will gladly remain available to “his” SFT for projects of SALZER FORMTECH as well as the SALZERGRUPPE, if required.
“The decision was a longer process for me, because I was able to manage SALZER FORMTECH during the 13 years as if it were my own company. Taking the step to actually being self-employed is a new challenge that feels good all around. The only downer is leaving my employees, who are very dear to me, behind. However, I now know that they are in the best of hands thanks to the new appointment of Mr. Uwe Karner,” says Wolfgang Spanny.
Owner Thomas Salzer thanks Wolfgang Spanny: “I would like to thank Wolfgang Spanny for his tireless commitment to “his” SFT and “his” team, with which it has been possible to realize technical excellence and to always be economically successful even in the difficult times”.
For his successor, the company has been able to recruit a management personality who is ideally suited for the job. As of August 1, Uwe Karner will take over the management of the company. “I am very pleased to be able to continue the successful path of SALZER FORMTECH, especially with the same openness, trust and professionalism that was lived by Wolfgang Spanny throughout the entire time. I would very much like to support the company not only in providing technical input and generalist overall management, but also in a broad, strategic orientation,” says the new managing director about his new task.
Uwe Karner is an experienced expert in the field of plastics technology with national and international companies. After Hexcel Holding as Application Engineer, he was Technical Manager at Eurofoam AUT GmbH, the subsidiary of Greiner AG, one of the leading companies in the foam industry. There he was also active in the management of the Eurofoam Östereich companies, before he was last employed under the new company name of the Greiner AG foam division (NEVEON Holding GmbH), as Director Material Performance Lab & Prototyping, where he was involved, among other things, in the strategic organizational development during the consolidation phase of all individual companies. The technical chemist, who holds a doctorate, is to further expand the strong market position and write a new chapter of success with his 40-strong team. With an additional MBA education in change management and organizational development, he can also bring his theoretical knowledge coupled with his practical experience, to the company.
“We are very happy that we could win Uwe Karner for Salzer Formtech. I am convinced that he will continue to write the success story of SFT with his know-how as well as his many years of experience and continue to develop innovative products with sustainable solutions for our customers,” says Thomas Salzer.