Silvio Gruber, who has been responsible for the corrugated board division at Marbach, has gone into well-earned retirement shortly before Christmas. Until his recent retirement, Gruber worked for the Heilbronn-based company in various management positions for a period of 37 years.
Silvio Gruber, front row, centre – with colleagues from Marbach.
Peter Marbach, Owner & Managing Director, Marbach, said, “Silvio Gruber has worked for Marbach for a large part of his professional career. With his work, throughout several decades, he has contributed to the success of the company. When Mr. Gruber joined us, our corrugated board sales amounted to 1 million German Marks. Over the years we have expanded steadily. Today, our worldwide sales in the corrugated board product area total more than €30m.”
Gruber’s professional career began as an apprentice toolmaker. After completing his 2-year military service, he began working in this profession and took a master class as well as further training in the then brand-new technology of eroding. After various stops along the way, Gruber joined Marbach in 1984. Initially applying for the thermoforming division, things turned out differently than expected for him, since Marbach was looking for a successor for Walter Kübler, who was responsible for the corrugated board rotary division at that time. After taking over the rotary division, various leading positions followed for him at Marbach in the flat and rotary corrugated board division, both as product group manager and in sales. In 2010, Gruber was given power of attorney.
Gruber’s work at Marbach can be seen in the changes to the production of rotary dies; at the beginning, the production of a rotary die was purely manual work – the packaging layout was applied to the rotary die by pencil and then sawed by hand with a special jigsaw. Later, the manufacturing process became more and more automated. First, the pencil drawing was replaced by a plotter drawing, which was glued onto the rotary half shell, then a controlled saw was used. Today, the packaging layouts for rotary half-shells are cut by laser.
Peter Marbach concludes, “We would like to thank Silvio for his tireless commitment to Marbach and wish him good health and all the best for the future.”
