Progroup founder and Chief Executive Officer Jürgen Heindl has been honoured with the Business Medal of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate in recognition of his outstanding work as an entrepreneur. The award was presented by Dr Volker Wissing, State Minister of Economic Affairs, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture.
Left to right: Jürgen Heindl receives the award from State Minister of Economic Affairs, Dr Volker Wissin.
It was 29 years ago that Heindl started Progroup’s corrugated board production facility in Offenbach a. d. Queich. The family company has successfully pursued its ambitious growth strategy ever since.
“Jürgen Heindl is a significant figure who has helped to make Rhineland-Palatinate a strong location for industry,” says Wissing, in praising Heindl’s achievements. “Over a short period of time, he has written an entrepreneurial success story that is unparalleled with Progroup. With his pioneering spirit and foresight, he has laid an impressive foundation to safeguard a successful future for his company and the competitiveness of the state,”
Heindl feels a strong bond with the state and the region. He says, “Rhineland-Palatinate promotes modern technologies to drive forward innovations. This state shares Progroup’s philosophy that big aims can only be achieved by working together, with the passion and thirst for innovation that is needed.”
Progroup is not only focused on international growth, but is also clearly committed to Rhineland-Palatinate as a location. In 2019, the company along with its customer K2 invested another €17m in modernising the site in Offenbach and in doing so signified that it has an enduring commitment to the region. In 2020, Group Office in Landau was expanded for the second time. By expanding the office from around 1,900 sqm to a total of 6,550 sqm, the company created space for 250 highly skilled jobs here.
Heindl wants to continue to help to resolutely drive forward mega trends such as digitisation and Industry 4.0 by building on the qualities that Rhineland-Palatinate enjoys. Progroup will therefore also grow sustainably in the South Palatinate region in the future. Heindl adds, “I am convinced that we will be implementing more Progroup growth projects in Rhineland-Palatinate with great success very soon. We will remain a strong and reliable partner to our customers and boost Rhineland-Palatinate as a place to do business.”
Progroup continues to grow internationally as well. The company’s twelfth sheet feeder site and its third plant in Poland is currently being constructed in Stryków, Poland. With its production capacity of 825m sqm per annum, Stryków will be one of the biggest corrugated board production sites anywhere in the world.
In addition, further growth projects in France and Italy are in the final planning stage. The level of investment in the current national and international expansion projects is around €300m. A total of around 200 new, highly skilled jobs are being created in Germany and abroad. “These increases in capacity will enable us to continue to offer our customers the high reliability of supply and product quality they are used to and grow together with them on an equal footing,” says Heindl, in emphasising the importance of his long-term growth strategy.
As well as his achievements in business, Heindl is also committed to social causes in the region. He gets involved by ensuring that Progroup supports projects which promote children and young people in particular. This may be in education but also in sport, or may involve specifically supporting disadvantaged children and young people.
