Dr. Reinhard
Ulbrich, the former Business Director of DuPont’s Cyrel flexo printing plates
division in Europe passed away. He was 89. Widely known throughout the printing
and packaging industry around the world and played a major role in the
development of flexo printing from being almost a cottage industry to the high
precision printing technique it is today, Dr. Ulbrich is still regarded as the
“King of European Flexo”.
Joining DuPont in
the Mylar film division in Switzerland in the early 1960’s, Reinhard progressed
up the corporate ladder, moving to Düsseldorf in 1969 as the manager for films
in Germany. A short spell at DuPont’s US corporate headquarters in Wilmington,
Delaware, he returned to the Photo Products department in Frankfurt, Germany
and eventually took on the role of Business Manager for the Cyrel business in
1982.
Flexo printing at
that time was very much the stepchild of the printing industry and DuPont’s
flexo plates were all made in the United States. After intensive lobbying,
cajoling and persuasion, Dr. Ulbrich persuaded DuPont management to install a
new production line for Cyrel plates based in Frankfurt and hired young,
enthusiastic printing engineers and sales staff to aggressively grow the
business.
Dr. Ulbrich’s people
skills were legendary. He was universally admired and respected. As a supplier
to the industry, he was always ready to listen to his customers’ needs. They
loved being with him and he brought warmth and fellowship to the flexo
industry. To his many colleagues at DuPont he was a mentor and friend and his
staff found him easy to work with. Always full of new ideas, his “customer
always comes first attitude” motivated many to find new ways to delight the
customer.
The Cyrel “Grand
Prix” flexo printing competition, which ran throughout Europe and latterly in
Asia in the 1990s, was an example of Reinhard’s customer-focused thinking,
bringing together flexo printers, plate-makers and brand owners from all over
Europe to celebrate excellence in flexographic printing on cartons, flexible
packaging and labels. Notable personalities such as Hans-Dietrich Genscher and
the astronaut Neil Armstrong graced the events with their presence.
Born in Silesia,
then a part of Germany that today belongs to Poland, Reinhard turned his
attention east after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He focused on growing
flexo printing in the former eastern bloc and Russia, in particular where many
credit him with introducing flexo printing there, helping to build the economy
there after the revolution. Even after his retirement from DuPont, Dr. Ulbrich
travelled frequently to Moscow and helped introduce flexo printing courses at
the Russian Academy of Printing in Moscow, for which he was awarded an honorary
doctorate.
While coronavirus
restrictions currently prevent large gatherings, his family, friends and
colleagues intend to hold a memorial event sometime in the autumn in Frankfurt,
in true Reinhard style, to give thanks for his life and achievements. Dr.
Ulbrich leaves behind Katrin, his wife of many years and his two daughters,
Barbara and Caroline as well as grandchildren Alicia and Gabriel. We offer them
our most sincere condolences at their loss.
