65 years of KURZ carcass trading
Karl Kurz - a life for the tire!
unique? grand senior? warhorse? mastermind? Master of his trade? globetrotter? maker? Swabian inventor? entrepreneur? switchman? Visionary?
Somehow everything fits Karl Kurz – at the age of 87 he combines so many qualities in his person like hardly anyone else in the industry. 1955 - just 23 years old, he laid the foundation for his short empire on the Olgaeck in the middle of the Swabian state capital - the trade in carcasses and used tires.
Very early on he made worldwide connections through North, South and Central America, Asia and Africa. The European community was not yet born; Karl Kurz was a “born European” from the start. Thanks to this enormous openness, he quickly acquired a high level of specialist knowledge of the world's tire markets.
Established quickly
His trade in carcasses and used tires in Stuttgart flourished and the premises quickly became too small. At the beginning of the 60s he moved the company headquarters to Leinfelden-Echterdingen.
The rapid increase in motorization in Germany supported his business. Gogomobile, Prinz-NSU, VW Beetle, DKWs and of course the Swabian Mercedes vehicles became more and more popular. Gradually, the middle class could also afford their own car and the The number of customers grew rapidly.
Karl Kurz shaped the tire trade in his region for over 30 years. Selling, winning new customers, driving the "business" forward with incredible energy, realizing new ideas and building contacts that lasted a lifetime, that's his passion.
He is always a businessman and entrepreneur in the first place. At the end of the 1980s, many companies wanted to make money from tires. The stock of vehicles was now so large that it became a lucrative business for many master mechanics. Tire dealers shot up like mushrooms and large retail chains emerged, making life difficult for retailers. The competition became correspondingly tough.
Karl Kurz has also been dealing with the topic of carcass trade for a long time. Carcasses (tire base) that have been used primarily for retreading since the 1950s and used tires that were exported. Until the early 1990s, car tires were also retreaded and the carcass was the essential basis. It was only with the import of cheaper new tires that car retreading became less important. This turned these carcasses into used tires and Karl Kurz recognized early on that the scrap tire disposal is a business model that can last for a long time. Because - as long as cars drive on tires, used tires accumulate. And every year there were more.
restart
In 1989 at the age of 57 - by then many people were already thinking about retirement - Karl Kurz started again and built his business model with the Move to Wendlingen completely over. Scrap tires are now his main business model and from the beginning with the special Focus on sustainability. Half measures are not his thing - either completely or not at all. Of course, his worldwide connections help him with the new business model. Over the years he has built up a network that is second to none. He knows "God and the world" and that was good for the used tire business.
In 68, at the age of 1997, he took over the 16.000 square meter company premises and some employees from Gummi-Mayer in Landau and expands with this second location its sphere of activity. The waste tire disposal business is growing successfully and with the location in Landau he can shred the old tires 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 Federal Association of Tire Trade and Vulcanizer Trade eV (BRV) and together with the then BRV managing director Peter Hülzer founds the working group for old tire disposal at the BRV. This working group is committed to the topic of certification and sets the stricter framework conditions together with other disposal companies. KURZ received its first certification in 2003. At the same time, Karl Kurz invests in a new, more powerful shredder system.
One topic worries the agile entrepreneur: Who will continue my "business". At the age of 75 he is feverishly looking for a successor; one of his most difficult missions, which he does not succeed at first go. His attempts to find a successor of the same caliber fail. However, that does not stop him from expanding and expanding the company. In 2007 the warehouse in Landau moved to a larger property. From the middle of the same year, his strengthened Granddaughter – Hanna Schöberl -the team and relieves her grandfather wherever possible. The company continues to grow and thrive - more excavators, roll-off containers and container vehicles are constantly being purchased so that the large quantity of used tires can be managed - at the same time the logistical competence is growing. The "homegrown" Hanna Schöberl has worked in two years and asserts itself and receives the power of attorney.
In 2012 Karl Kurz celebrated his 80th birthday. In the same year, the company premises in Landau were enlarged to 25.000 square meters and a year later he doubled the factory premises in Wendlingen. In the best of health and still very active in the company celebrates the company's 2015th anniversary in 60.
Due to the changed situation on the used tire market, Karl Kurz is committed to founding an industry initiative. Under his leadership, with the good contacts and the BRV managing director Peter Hülzer, he succeeds in bringing the most important and large used tire disposal companies to one table at the NUFAM in Karlsruhe. His vision, that there are only certified used tire disposal companies that deal with the secondary raw material used tires in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way, has not yet been fully fulfilled, but with the ZARE initiative (Certified waste tire disposal company) he is on the right track together with many other disposal companies.
In 2017 he appoints his granddaughter Hanna Schöberl as managing director, who got the tools for the scrap tire business from her grandfather over the past ten years.
