At the traditional Forbo group, there was an open dispute between the previous CEO Michael Schumacher and the board of directors. Schumacher will be replaced by Jens Fankhänel, who joins the company from Kardex.
The boss of the flooring manufacturer Forbo, Michael Schumacher, has to leave office after just over a year. As the company announced on Friday evening after the stock market closed, he will leave the company at the end of November 2022. Forbo explains his departure with different opinions about the direction of the company.
The company’s board of directors has appointed Jens Fankhänel as Schumacher’s successor. Fankhänel, who will take up his new position at the beginning of March 2023, has previously headed the management of the intralogistics specialist Kardex. He had already been elected to the Forbo Board of Directors in May 2022 as a regular member.
Schumacher only took up his post as CEO at Forbo at the beginning of October 2021. At that time he had joined Forbo from the French construction supplier Saint-Gobain.
With sales of CHF 1.3 billion, Forbo is one of the larger Swiss construction suppliers. In addition to floor coverings, the traditional company based in Baar also produces adhesives for the construction industry and tapes, which are used, among other things, as conveyor belts in logistics centers and as treadmills in equipment for fitness studios.
As a strong man in the group, the investor Michael Pieper, who holds 25 percent of the capital and is the vice-president of the board of directors, has been working for years alongside the manager This Schneider. Schneider initially served as CEO from 2004 to 2013. Since then he has held the office of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. He will also act as interim CEO until Fankhänel is appointed.
It is not yet known who will succeed Fankhänel at Kardex. The Zurich company had already announced early Friday morning that the corresponding process would be initiated immediately. Kardex generated sales of around EUR 450 million last year and specializes in the manufacture of automated storage solutions and material flow systems.