Paul Frey: Commercial organiser of the expansion

When Paul Frey, a trained industrial buyer and diplomed business manager, responds to an advert at MAPAL in 1976, he initially has little faith that he will be successful. They are looking for a “seasoned man” in his forties, he was only 27, but Dr Georg Kress hires him anyway.

Paul Frey himself is sceptical as to whether he really wants to work for what he considers to be a rather backward small company. There isn't even a calculating machine - balance sheets are drawn up by hand and then typed up on a typewriter, and cheques to pay incoming invoices are signed personally by the senior boss. “That was a shock for me,” he recalls, “especially the commercial side was very far behind.”

One of the first things Paul Frey does, after consulting Dr Dieter Kress, is to order two calculating machines - only to have to “stand at attention” together with the junior boss in front of the thrifty Dr Georg Kress and justify the supposedly useless purchase. However, he soon learns to appreciate the thriftiness of the company, which doesn’t even afford an accountant. He realises the company's potential. And indeed, turnover and employees double every five years thereafter. This was partly due to the increasing number of foreign and subsidiary companies, all of which report to Paul Frey. In 1986, he is granted power of attorney and, in addition to finance and accounting, he is also responsible for human resources, organisation and IT.

Paul Frey often travels to subsidiaries and foreign companies, especially before and during the integration into the MAPAL Group. He even takes over the commercial management of the subsidiary August Beck. He also develops an internationally applicable financial controlling system and plays a key role in the introduction of SAP.

In 2014, after almost 40 years at MAPAL and on reaching retirement age, Paul Frey hands over his operational responsibilities to younger hands. He remains with his boss Dr Dieter Kress, whom he regards as “very determined, organised, creative, hard-working, open, communicative and intelligent”, for a further three years to handle special tasks.