On Thursday 2 June, Luxembourgish company CK S.A. celebrated its 70th anniversary in the presence of Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, and guests from the worlds of business, politics and society.

At the event, the prime minister gave a speech in which he congratulated the company and its workforce for the achievement, emphasising the importance of traditional companies for the Luxembourg economy. He pointed to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as reflective of a company outside of the financial sector being able to succeed in the Grand Duchy.

Established in 1946, the company has consistently played a leading role in its active business areas, offering services such as office printing, production printing and graphs. In 1980, the company expanded its original core business of print and copy machines with the founding of the CK Sport Centre with new business areas futher developed through the establishment of the CK Fitness Centre.

This continuous further development approach became a firm strategy for the company in 2009, enabling it to more than triple its turnover from €9 million to €36 million between 1999 and 2015, whilst growth has also been experience it terms of the number of employees.

"Founded in 1946 by Charles Kieffer as a one-man operation, today we employ more than 170 staff," explained Patrick Mergen. "Despite modernisation and the size of the company, the founder's values are still upheld: Tradition, family and competition are the keys to our success."

"Many of our staff have been with our company for years," added Suzette Elsen-Mangen. "The solidarity with te company goes so far that multiple generations of family members work at CK. And hopefully it will remain so. Only through a strong team that sticks together and works towards the future without forgetting their roots can we carry on CK as its founder intended."

Suzette Elsen-Mangen, Josy Frisch, Bernard Hugo and Patrick Mergen make up the team of four mananging the CK Group today, having each investing decades in the company whilst individually contributing their own expertise. In order to be prepared for the needs of younger generations as well, the four partners have a young management team at their side as well.

The CK Sport and CK Fitness Centres are under the management of Fernand Claude, who has also been active in the company for many decades.

 

Photo by CK Group