| Division: | ECKART |
| Company: | ECKART GmbH |
| Role: | Chief Technology Officer |
| Location: | Güntersthal |
| Country: | Germany |
| Has been with the company since: | 1996 |
 | |
|---|---|
Please describe us your professional experiences
After the Abitur (12 or 13-year diploma) in 1986 and compulsory military service, I studied Chemistry and obtained a PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1996.
Which positions have you held at ALTANA to date?
I started working for ECKART in 1996 in R&D/Metal Pigment Development. In that role, I was involved with development and application technology in the area of metal-pigmented printing inks. I subsequently took on the marketing and sales management role (plastics industry) and became Global Business Line Manager Plastics.
Since October 2010, I have been the Chief Technology Officer as well as Product Group Manager Pearl.
For which tasks and projects are you responsible in your position?
My tasks include further developing existing product groups (R&D) and optimizing the respectively associated processes (technical center). Intellectual property must be secured by patents. I am also involved in building new business segments.
The development of pigments with cutting-edge optical or functional properties is an important project.
What does innovation mean to you?
Innovation means sustainably earning money. That means: to develop products that the market requires and which are feasible in terms of production, and, in doing so, to develop competitive advantages and secure them through industrial property rights.
Which Networks do you use within the ALTANA Group?
I have contacts in all divisions as a result of participating in the Management Development Program. In the operational day-to-day work activities, I intensively keep in contact with the Chief Technology Officers there in particular.