On 24 October 2018, Hans-Hinrich Kruse (Hornschuch, Weissbach / Germany; www.hornschuch.com) was elected new chief executive by the members of the Industrieverband Kunststoffbahnen Europe (IVK Europe, Frankfurt / Germany; www.ivk-europe.com), which is the industry association of companies producing sheets made of plastics and caoutchouc. Kruse succeeded long-term predecessor Michael Kundel (Renolit, Worms / Germany; www.renolit.com), who will remain on the executive board.

Rob van der Valk (Low & Bonar, London / UK; www.lowandbonar.com) was confirmed for another two years on the board. Frank Kleinert (Klöckner Pentaplast, London; www.kpfilms.com), representing rigid films, and Günther Gradnig (Sattler, Gössendorf / Austria; www.sattler.com), representing manufacturers of coated fabrics, are both new to the plastic sheets association’s executive board.

Kruse aims to develop IVK Europe’s activities and focus on sustainability of rigid and flexible films as well as plastic sheets. This includes the continued support of the VinylPlus (Brussels / Belgium; www.vinylplus.eu) sustainability programme – see Plasteurope.com of 01.10.2018.

IVK Europe represents the interests of European manufacturers of flexible and rigid films as well as PVC-coated fabrics, and is under the leadership of Polymer Comply Europe (PCE, Brussels; www.polymercomplyeurope.eu). In April 2018, Karin Erz was named managing director of IVK Europe – see Plasteurope.com of 11.04.2018 – which is a member of European Plastics Converters (EuPC, Brussels; www.plasticsconverters.eu).