Lackwerke Peters: Third generation joins the management team

On December 31, 2025, the second generation Brigitte and Ralf Schwartz will retire from the active business of the Peters Group. From January 1, 2026, the granddaughter of company founder Werner Peters, who died in 2017 at the age of 85, and her husband Benjamin Alfes will exercise sole management as dual leadership. The two 33-year-olds have been involved in the company for a good six years and spent a year in Shanghai in 2019, where they helped to shape the newly established local subsidiary. Britta Alfes studied International Business in Maastricht and, together with her husband Benjamin Alfes, has been part of the Peters team at the Peters headquarters at Hooghe Weg 13 since 2017. Benjamin Alfes studied industrial engineering at the TH in Aachen and, like his wife, graduated from the Luise-von-Duesberg Gymnasium in Kempen in 2009.

Ralf and Brigitte Schwartz have been at the helm for around 40 years and, with a motivated workforce, have turned Peters into one of the world's leading full-range suppliers of coating materials for electronics. The employees at the Peters headquarters in Kempen received the family's decision with applause. "We have thought intensively about the strategic further development of our company as well as the responsible transfer of areas of responsibility," emphasizes Ralf Schwartz, spokesman of the management board. Brigitte Schwartz emphasizes that the process of transition will be carried out together with the employees. "Securing your jobs and our business relationships remain our top priority," says the daughter of Werner Peters. "For a transformation into the future world, we need innovation in organizational structures, processes, services and products," Benjamin Alfes emphasizes. Britta Alfes adds, "By acting sustainably in every workplace, we want to take responsibility for this and the next generation." Both are ready to contribute to the successful continuation of Peters and its growth.