More innovative and more international together

A new heavy weight has entered the international market for plant containers which, however, unites two well-known big players on the market: on 1 January 2021, the German ceramics manufacturers Scheurich and Soendgen merged to form the Plant-Style-Group. This also includes the Scheurich subsidiary Formwerk (formerly PP-Plastic) as producer of plastic plant containers. The two brands will remain unchanged, and also the ceramics plants - one from Scheurich, two from Soendgen - as well as the plastics production facilities from Formwerk.
The management of the Plant-Style-Group-Holding lies in the hands of Peter Baumann, owner and CEO of Scheurich for more than 30 years and current chairman of the advisory board. He is also main shareholder of the new holding. Björn Hansen, managing partner of Soendgen, is taking over the commercial leadership of the new group. The merger aims at utilising synergies, for instance in the development of innovative technologies, for example in energy management (which is extremely important when firing ceramic containers), in plant engineering or the optimised application of processes and use of capacities. The three individual companies will continue to operate legally independently.
"Size on the market is not the motivation behind the merger," Peter Baumann makes clear. He emphasises the importance of innovations in the complex and specialised production for which, he says, hardly any expertise is available from external providers. For example, Scheurich was the first manufacturer in the world to develop the technology of digital printing on ceramics completely on its own. In the plastic container segment too, the medium-sized enterprise with its subsidiary Formwerk has made its own patented procedures in rotational moulding sufficiently well developed for use.
Further synergies in the new association will particularly affect logistics and sales, which will be organised in future according to segments. This means that trade customers will have one contact partner each for both brands. Continuing both brands with the expenditure this involves also makes sense in the new group structure; because they cover specific customer segments with their respective profiles. While Soendgen containers are designed with more of a view to plant trends, the focus at Scheurich is more strongly orientated towards the topic of interior design. That's why, even today, there are already customers who have listed both brands.