The PANTEC group is sad to announce that Peter Frei, CEO of the PANTEC print decoration business, has passed away unexpectedly due to an accident on the 29th of April, 2018.
We would like to extend our deepest condolences to his wife and three children, as well as his relatives.
Peter was born on the 30th of June, 1963 in Zürich, Switzerland. In 1988 he graduated from ETH Zürich as a mechanical engineer and started working as a development engineer and project manager. In 1996, he began his career in the printing industry as a director of new business development & system sales before joining PANTEC in 2008. During the next 10 years, he transformed the newly formed print decoration business unit into a leading player in the field of hot foil embossing machines with 3 product lines for narrow and wide web.
Everybody at PANTEC highly respected Peter’s vision and expertise, with which he led the company to great success. Sparking a paradigm shift amongst the industry was one of his greatest achievements. He convinced printing houses worldwide to change their production concepts to in-line processing, allowing them to utilize PANTEC’s high-performance hot foil embossing technology for greater efficiency. Due to Peter’s management, PANTEC was successfully positioned as the unchallenged leader in their market sector. The multitude of installed RHINO™ flatbed hot foil embossing systems and CHEETAH™ rotary hot foil stamping units as well as the great number of satisfied customers around the world, confirm the business unit’s claim – efficient high-quality refining.
“Peter was not only a great business developer with technical aptitude and tenacity but also a passionate leader, building up a very strong team around him with extensive application and engineering know-how. Through this, he was able to achieve an outstanding market position in such a short time”, says Reinhard Braun, Pantec owner and chief executive officer. “I will always remember Peter as a great entrepreneur with an inspiring personality and a huge passion for the printing industry.”
Ranesh Bajaj, managing director of VINSAK that represents Pantec in the Middle East and India said,”Peter Frei was a friend and a colleague for the last few years. Working with him in the Middle East and in India for the past 2 years, I have known him to be a true professional and an excellent human being. He was a true travel warrior, crisscrossing the globe a few times in a month and making Pantec the market leader that it is today in the field of label embellishment. The news of his death in a plane crash last week leaves us all devastated. This is a void in my professional as well as my personal life that will be difficult to fill. RIP my friend Peter.”
The company will soon commence the process of appointing a successor for Peter. Meanwhile, Reinhard Braun, CEO of Pantec Group, will direct the business.