From the beginning of January, the new chief executive officer is Martin Kutschka (43 years old), who has joined the company after being CEO of a car parts manufacturer, consultant and project manager of mining and oil production machinery firms.

The interim managing director of Pfaff-Silberblau in November and December 2005, Bernd Wagner, has been named chief financial officer of the company. Wagner, 44 years old, was previously the CFO of two information technology firms.

The interim chief executive officer before January, Thomas Dory, will pass on his responsibilities to these two men.

Pfaff-Silberblau was a family-run business until 2004. Today, the organisation has been split into three parts: the Alltec worm-gear business, acquired in 2001, the rail and road business (Verkehrstechnik), the machine building business, and the lifting equipment business. This is in turn broken down into propulsion technology, stage technology and lifting & handling technology. The Pfaff family is the sole shareholder of today’s group of companies, which is led by an independent management, supervisory board and shareholder representative.

Pfaff has 360 employees and group turnover of more than Euro 62m for fiscal year 2004. The company has factories in Friedberg and Heilbronn, Germany and has subsidiaries in Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and the UK. It also has affiliations with more than 40 representatives around the world.