65th anniversary
Karl Kurz - a life for the tyre!
Unikat? Grand Seigneur? Haudegen? Vordenker? Meister seines Fachs? Globetrotter? Macher? Schwäbischer Tüftler? Entrepreneur? Weichensteller? Visionär?
Somehow everything fits Karl Kurz - at the age of 87 he combines more characteristics in one person than almost anyone else in the industry. In 1955, aged just 23, he laid the foundations for his short-lived empire - trading in casings and used tyres - on Olgaeck in the centre of the Swabian capital.
Very early on, he forged global connections across North, South and Central America, Asia and Africa. The European community had not yet been born; Karl Kurz was a "born European" from the very beginning. Thanks to this enormous openness, he quickly acquired a high level of expertise in the world's tyre markets.
Quickly established
His trade in carcasses and used tyres in Stuttgart flourished and the premises quickly became too small. At the beginning of the 1960s, he moved the company headquarters to Leinfelden-Echterdingen.
The rapid increase in motorisation in Germany supported his business. Gogomobiles, Prinz NSUs, VW Beetles, DKWs and, of course, the Swabian Mercedes cars became increasingly popular. Gradually, even the middle classes were able to afford their own cars and the Number of customers grew rapidly.
Karl Kurz shaped the tyre trade in his region for over 30 years. Selling, winning new customers, driving the business forward with incredible energy, realising new ideas and building up contacts that lasted a lifetime - that was his passion.
First and foremost, he is always a businessman and entrepreneur. At the end of the 1980s, many companies wanted to make money with tyres. The vehicle population was now so large that it became a lucrative business for many master car mechanics. Tyre dealers sprang up like mushrooms and large retail chains emerged, making life difficult for retailers. Competition became correspondingly fierce.
Karl Kurz had also been involved in the carcass trade for some time. Carcasses (tyre bases) that were primarily used for retreading since the 1950s and used tyres that were exported. Until the beginning of the 1990s, car tyres were also retreaded and the carcass was the main base material. It was only with the import of cheaper new tyres that car retreading became less important. As a result, these carcasses became used tyres and Karl Kurz recognised early on that the Waste tyre disposal ein Geschäftsmodell ist, das lange Bestand haben kann. Denn – solange Autos auf Reifen fahren, fallen Altreifen an. Und jedes Jahr wurden es mehr.
Restart
In 1989, at the age of 57 - when many people were already thinking about retirement - Karl Kurz made a fresh start and expanded his business model with the Move to Wendlingen komplett um. Altreifen sind jetzt sein Hauptgeschäftsmodell. Halbe Sachen sind nicht seine Sache – entweder ganz oder gar nicht. Natürlich helfen ihm bei dem neuen Geschäftsmodell seine weltweiten Verbindungen. Über die Jahre hat er sich ein Netzwerk aufgebaut, das Seinesgleichen sucht. Er kennt „Gott und die Welt“ und das kam dem Altreifengeschäft zu Gute.
In 1997, at the age of 68, he took over the 16,000 square metre company premises and some of Gummi-Mayer's employees in Landau and expands with this second location his sphere of activity. The used tyre disposal business is growing successfully and with the site in Landau, he can shred the used tyres into palm-sized pieces.
The industry is important to him and he is looking for a successor
At the same time, Karl Kurz is involved in the German Tyre Retail and Vulcanisation Trade Association (BRV) and, together with the then BRV Managing Director Peter Hülzer, founds the BRV working group for waste tyre disposal companies. This working group is strongly committed to the issue of certification and establishes the stricter framework conditions together with other disposal companies. KURZ receives its first certification in 2003. At the same time, Karl Kurz invests in a New, more efficient shredder system.
The agile entrepreneur is preoccupied with one topic: who will continue to run my "business". At the age of 75, he is feverishly searching for a successor; one of his most difficult missions, which he does not succeed at the first attempt. His attempts to find a successor of the same calibre fail. However, this does not stop him from expanding and growing the company. In 2007, the warehouse in Landau moves to a larger site. From the middle of the same year, his Granddaughter - Hanna Schöberl – das Team und entlastet ihren Großvater wo es nur geht. Das Unternehmen wächst weiter und gedeiht – laufend werden weitere Bagger, Abrollcontainer und Container-Fahrzeuge angeschafft, so dass die große Menge an Altreifen bewältigt werden kann – parallel wächst die logistische Kompetenz. Das „Eigengewächs“ Hanna Schöberl hat sich in zwei Jahren eingearbeitet und behauptet und erhält die Prokura.
Karl Kurz celebrated his 80th birthday in 2012. In the same year, the company premises in Landau were expanded to 25,000 square metres and a year later he doubled the size of the factory premises in Wendlingen. In the best of health and still very active in the company celebrates the company's 60th anniversary in 2015.
Durch die veränderte Situation auf dem Altreifenmarkt setzt sich Karl Kurz engagiert für die Gründung einer Brancheninitiative ein. Unter seiner Federführung, mit den guten Kontakten und dem BRV Geschäftsführer Peter Hülzer gelingt es ihm die wichtigsten und großen Altreifenentsorger auf der NUFAM in Karlsruhe an einen Tisch zu holen. Seine Vision, es gibt nur zertifizierte Altreifenentsorger die fachgerecht mit dem Sekundärrohstoff Altreifen umgehen, hat sich noch nicht ganz erfüllt, aber mit der ZARE initiative (certified waste tyre disposal company), he is on the right track together with many other disposal companies.
In 2017, he appointed his granddaughter Hanna Schöberl appointed Managing Directorwho has spent the past ten years learning the ropes of the used tyre business from her grandfather.
