Expansion of the Board of Directors

Bizerba is now present in 120 countries, has more than 40 subsidiaries and several production sites worldwide, employs around 4,500 people and generates around 800 million euros in sales per year. Impressive facts. This means that Bizerba has reached the size of an internationally operating group. This demands global thinking and action. The dynamics of the digital transformation pose great challenges for companies in general and open up enormous opportunities for Bizerba in particular as an innovation leader. The corporate environment is extremely agile, expectations of the customer experience are increasing and Bizerba must live agility in order to live up to its claim and maintain its growth course.

These general conditions have a direct influence on Bizerba’s executive management. What is required is a high level of attention, quick strategic decisions and their consistent implementation. For this reason, the shareholders, together with the Supervisory Board, have decided to expand the Executive Board level at the beginning of 2022 to include the positions of CFO, CTO/COO and CSO. By bundling responsibilities, Bizerba achieves the agility that is indispensable for future growth.

Strategic orientation, digitalisation and employees are a matter for the bosses

The shareholder Andreas W. Kraut has been a member of the management board since 2009 and its chairman since 2011. In the future, he will continue to shape the strategic direction of the company in his role as CEO and chairman of the board. The healthy growth of the company is in the foreground. His areas of responsibility include digitisation, the development of new business models – especially in the area of software – and human resources. Andreas W. Kraut will continue to be responsible for global service and sales issues and will thus take over the management of the CSO area in a personal union.

Corporate goal: Increase profitability

The increase in profitability and efficiency is an important corporate goal, anchored among other things in the Strategy 2025. The shareholder Angela Kraut, previously Vice President Finance, Controlling & Quality and Managing Director of the subsidiary Bizerba Financial Services GmbH, will take over the newly created CFO position. She will be responsible for the Finance, Controlling, Quality and Purchasing divisions. Among other things, she will manage all activities that contribute to increasing the profitability of the entire company.

Efficiency from product development to delivery

The overall responsibility for the product development and delivery process, from product development to delivery to the customer, will be bundled in the newly created CTO/COO board department. Thomas Schoen, who has already been with the company since 2015 and has been responsible for all development activities as Vice President Engineering since 2019, will be responsible for this department as a member of the Executive Board from January 2022.

By combining the development, operations and supply chain activities in one area, the interfaces between the individual disciplines are to be optimised, synergies leveraged and efficiency increased throughout the entire value chain.

Family business stands for stability and long-term growth

The Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Eberhardt Veit, on the expansion of the Executive Board: "In the best year in the company’s history, we are setting the course for the continuation of our success. Building on the outstanding work of Mr. Andreas Kraut as CEO over many years, we are expanding the Executive Board with Angela Kraut as CFO and Thomas Schoen as CTO/COO. In keeping with the huge opportunities, I would like to express it in the language of digitalisation: Bizerba is hereby sustainably "programmed" for success.”

Shareholder, CEO and Chairman of the Board Andreas W. Kraut explains the new organisational set-up of the family-run company as the right and logical step that will further strengthen Bizerba’s stability and growth. "The newly created structure will help us achieve our long-term goals in the areas of profitability, technology, sales and digitalisation. Above all, our more than 4,500 employees* worldwide are also key to our success" said Andreas W. Kraut. "The goal of the Kraut family and of me personally is to successfully lead Bizerba into the next generation". Until then, the company’s innovative strength and market position can be further expanded on the basis of the very successful path taken in recent years.