Values
In depth
Our founder believed right from the outset that you can only truly understand the world if you take a close look at it. In an age in which quick wins are often all that matters, he remains true to his belief that you will only be successful in the long run if you can look beyond the context and carefully analyse opportunities. He spotted a gap in the market that nobody else had seen, and he shaped Progroup's business model around it. This provides further evidence of his visionary thinking. His pioneering spirit, thirst for innovation and clarity are key pillars of everything he does.
Courage
Courage is the very heartbeat of entrepreneurship. It isn’t possible to establish a company unless you have courage. And this is definitely true when you need to borrow millions of deutschmarks to do so. As well as having a carefully calculated business model, you also need plenty of persuasiveness and courage – and a family that shares this vision with you. His wife Herta and his two sons Maximilian and Vinzenz have always been there to support him.
“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. But vision combined with action has the power to change the world.”
Joel Arthur Barker
Discipline
Jürgen Heindl learned this strength when he was a child growing up on his parents’ farm. It was obvious that the animals needed milking and the hay needed gathering. Discipline – this ability to prioritise tasks and perform them without hesitation – paved the way for him to lead his own company. Progroup's evolution, from an initial production site in Germany's idyllic southern Palatinate region to a corporate group that is now successful right across Europe, would have been unthinkable without this attitude. There is a hard work ethic that is also shared by many long-standing employees, including long-serving fellow workers who have been at Progroup for 30 years or more.
Thirst for adventure
There’s another value that very much defines our founder – maybe more than any others: he is and remains an explorer. His vision for new markets and his willingness to keep exploring new paths have made Progroup one of the most innovative companies in the industry. The production of corrugated board sheets in widths that were previously unimaginable, the establishment of a closed water cycle on the paper machines, and the addition of waste-to-energy plants – these are all the results of his inquisitive mind. The foundation of Progroup not only changed the system for corrugated board production, but also the customer/supplier relationship. The crucial factor was the consistent networking of machines, processes and planning systems right through to the customers. Today this is all very standard. In the 1990s – two decades before anyone was talking about “Industry 4.0” – this was a revolutionary approach. He is driven by his curiosity to meet people and explore cultures, and the trips he has embarked on with customers and employees still bear testament to this.
