Kurt Steidle, CEO, Lüscher AG
Hans Lüscher, former owner and president of the board of directors of Lüscher AG in Leutwil, Switzerland, has sold the majority holding in his company to the Austrian investment company PAInvest, guaranteeing the succession of his company and its employees. With that participation PAInvest signalled its intention to support the strong growth which Lüscher AG has achieved for, its products.
PAInvest, an associated company of Austrian Global Equity Partner (GEP), has majority holding in medium-sized businesses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Wilhelm R. Tschol, director of PAInvest, took over the position of president of the board from Hans Lüscher (60) who continues to serve on the board of directors. Lars Janneryd (68), who until now was the member of the board responsible for sales and marketing, has retired.
Kurt Steidle has been appointed managing director. In his last position with Kodak, he was responsible for Kodak Polychrome Graphics in Austria and Switzerland. Based on his previous responsibilities for the development, production and quality control of the Newsetter thermal platesetter, he brings to Lüscher strong experience in the CTP sector.
Since 2000, with the introduction of the XPose! platesetter, Hans Lüscher and Lars Janneryd have continuously increased the firm’s turnover from 25m Swiss Francs (about €16m) to 55m Swiss Francs (about €36m) and sold more than 850 XPose! thermal platesetters world-wide.
The large-format models such as the XPose! 160 for 16 A4 pages and the XPose!190 for 32 pages have sold well in recent months. A further contribution to Lüscher’s turnover was made with the sale of over 400 JetScreen installations which have revolutionised screen-printing production with their Computer-to-Screen (CtS) technique.
Utilising the revenue from the CtP and CtS sectors Lüscher developed the JetPrint 3530 UV large-format printer which, with its format of 3.05x3.50 metres, is the largest flat-bed printer in the world and has become well established in the market since its introduction at Ipex 06. Employed in the production of UV-sensitive, conventional offset plates, whose price is almost half that of thermal plates, it therewith offers printers substantial cost savings. Following successful trials of the first units, more than 20 orders have been booked for delivery from January 2007.
Lüscher’s current product range will be retained under the new ownership and service and support will continue within the present framework and those products under development will be brought to market on schedule.
Lüscher AG was founded in Switzerland 60 years ago as a family concern. The firm specialises in the development and production of quality high-value, mechanical and electronic solutions for the offset, flexo and letterpress sectors, as well as for digital large-format printing and the screen printing market.
