65th anniversary
Karl Kurz - a life for the tyre!
Unique? Grand Senieur? Warhorse? Mastermind? Master of his trade? Globetrotter? Maker? Swabian inventor? Entrepreneur? Pioneer? Visionary?
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 is a business model that can last for a long time. Because - as long as cars drive on tyres, used tyres will be produced. And every year there are more and more tyres.
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 completely. Scrap tyres are now his main business model and have been from the start with the special Focus on sustainability. Half measures are not his thing - either completely or not at all. Of course, his global connections help him with his new business model. Over the years, he has built up a network that is unrivalled. He knows "God and the world" and this has benefited the used tyre business.
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 -She joins the team and relieves her grandfather wherever possible. The company continues to grow and flourish - additional excavators, roll-off containers and container vehicles are purchased on an ongoing basis so that the large volume of used tyres can be handled - at the same time, logistical expertise grows. The "home-grown" Hanna Schöberl has familiarised herself with the company in two years and has been granted power of attorney.
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.
Due to the changed situation on the used tyre market, Karl Kurz is committed to founding an industry initiative. Under his leadership, with his good contacts and BRV Managing Director Peter Hülzer, he succeeded in bringing together the most important and large waste tyre disposal companies at NUFAM in Karlsruhe. His vision of having only certified waste tyre disposal companies that handle waste tyres as a secondary raw material in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner has not yet been fully realised, but with the 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.
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