How Family Businesses in the Packaging Industry Stay Agile

Dr Julia Eberhardt runs the packaging manufacturer LEEB Flexibles together with her brother Georg Eberhardt as the fourth generation of the family. The family-owned company from the Allgäu region, headquartered in Memmingen, was founded in 1928 and specialises in flexible food packaging. After studying business administration and organisational psychology, Eberhardt completed her doctorate on the topic of “succession in family businesses” and worked for several years for international corporations. In this interview, she explains what future viability means for an almost 100-year-old family business, why leadership in phases of transformation is also family work, and what prospects the packaging industry offers young talent.

You run LEEB Flexibles as the fourth generation of the family. What does future viability mean for a family business that has been developing and producing packaging for almost 100 years?

Future viability means preserving experience and tradition, “LEEBing” the present and actively shaping the future. Even after 100 years, we are still learning every day and continuing to develop on a daily basis. On the one hand, we think in generations; on the other, we make our strategic and investment decisions very quickly and dynamically. As a family business, we benefit from short decision-making processes and 100% independence, but also from the many years of experience of our employees and our established customer structures.

You completed your doctorate on succession in family businesses. What distinguishes leadership in a family business from leadership in a corporation, especially in phases of transformation?

There is always one more party at the table: the family. With all its patterns, emotions and history. On the one hand, this brings deep trust and understanding, as well as the highest level of loyalty; on the other, it requires this “family level” to be consciously shaped. I run the company together with my brother, and we are very aware that we are both brother and sister, but also co-CEOs. Reflectively and sensitively maintaining and shaping both relationships is our task – probably the most important one of all. We take this very seriously because it creates incredible energy: we both put the good of the company above everything else – and that helps us a great deal, especially in challenging times.

The packaging industry is often caught between sustainability, regulation and public criticism. How do you explain to young talent why it is still worthwhile entering this industry?

Like hardly any other industry, the packaging industry offers incredibly strong future prospects, is highly dynamic and at the same time so diverse. Sustainability is not only put into practice here in processes and behaviour, but directly in the product. Where else can you really and directly make a contribution and help shape the future so actively?!

If we as an industry were even better at bringing these aspects to the fore and making them visible, the question would answer itself. That is my goal!

Where do you see the greatest strengths of German packaging companies in international competition – in quality, technology, sustainability or customer proximity?

Innovative strength and implementation power arise from experience and genuine customer proximity. That is what distinguishes the German packaging industry in its cooperation with our customers and partners! The increasingly short life cycles of individual product runs require the highest levels of flexibility and speed – and this is where geographical proximity also pays off. At the same time, we still have to prove ourselves in global competition. State-of-the-art technology and maximum efficiency in production and service are indispensable here. We must all work on this with great urgency and must not overlook the dynamism of international markets. Instead, we should understand it as an incentive to keep becoming even better ourselves.

Thank you for the interview, Ms Eberhardt.