Schill+Seilacher Names Stephan Sielaff CEO, With Man-Made Fiber Solutions in Focus

Schill+Seilacher Group’s next phase will put customer needs and international collaboration at the center of its specialty chemicals business. Stephan Sielaff took over as CEO on October 1, bringing around 30 years of experience in specialty chemicals and related industries to a company whose solutions support man-made fiber and nonwoven production. The appointment positions his operational and product development background alongside the Group’s established application expertise.

Process chemistry with an end-use role

For manufacturers and processors of man-made fibers, Schill+Seilacher supplies process auxiliaries for staple fibers and continuous filaments, as well as solutions that give nonwovens targeted functions. The products are used at points where processing requirements and the characteristics of the finished material meet. That makes the company’s work relevant both to production performance and to how a fiber or fabric is intended to behave in use.

Its tailored spinning finishes are designed to support reliable, efficient processing while helping fibers acquire properties suited to their eventual applications. The source describes examples including a soft handle, controlled water absorption and repellency. These are distinct performance goals: one concerns the feel of the material, while the others concern how it interacts with moisture. The appropriate finish depends on the intended fiber and product requirements.

That range reaches from apparel and hygiene products to technical applications in mobility, construction and infrastructure. The spread of uses points to a business shaped by varied specifications rather than a single material outcome. A fiber destined for a soft textile may have different handling and performance priorities from one used in a technical application. Schill+Seilacher’s stated offer centers on adapting process chemistry to those differing needs.

For industry professionals, that relationship between manufacturing and end use is the notable part of the portfolio. Processing aids must fit production conditions, while functional solutions must correspond to what the finished material is expected to do. The company presents application knowledge across both production and further processing as a foundation for working with customers on tailored solutions.

Experience translated into customer work

Sielaff describes that combination of experience and adaptation as a strength of specialty chemicals businesses. “Tradition becomes a competitive advantage in specialty chemicals when experience is continuously translated into new solutions,” he says. He points to Schill+Seilacher’s application expertise across man-made fiber production and further processing, with the aim of turning that knowledge into solutions developed together with customers.

That emphasis gives customer proximity a central place in his priorities. Sielaff plans to sharpen the organization’s focus on markets, customers and partners, while strengthening collaboration across the Group internationally. The direction he sets out is to connect the company’s existing international presence more closely to shared work across its operations.

“We already have an international footprint. Now we want to make better use of the strength of our Group – thinking globally, acting together and staying closer to our customers,” Sielaff says. For a specialty chemicals supplier serving different applications and markets, closer coordination can help connect local customer needs with knowledge elsewhere in the organization. His comments frame that coordination as a practical management focus, alongside the company’s technical work.

A career across chemicals and manufacturing

Sielaff trained as a chemical engineer and began his career at Unilever, where his roles covered operations, innovation and product development. He later became Innovation and Engineering Director for Home and Personal Care Europe. After further roles at Symrise, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Swiss specialty chemicals company Archroma, then became CEO of Austria-based Lenzing AG. Most recently, he led SSI SCHÄFER Plastics.

That path spans consumer products, specialty chemicals, fiber and plastics businesses. It also includes work in operations and innovation, experience that aligns with the combination of production knowledge and market focus Sielaff emphasizes for Schill+Seilacher. His experience at Lenzing AG and SSI SCHÄFER Plastics adds leadership in businesses connected to material production and processing to a career that began in product development.

Dr Peter Dürolf, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Schill+Seilacher Group, says the markets the company serves increasingly reward speed, international reach and the ability to turn ideas into business. He describes Sielaff as a leader who has handled those demands in international markets. Dürolf says the Group intends to move ahead with entrepreneurial courage, commercial discipline and a clear focus on customers.

For the fiber business, the leadership change puts a clear question in view: how the Group will translate its accumulated application experience into solutions shaped around customers’ evolving requirements. Sielaff’s stated priorities point toward stronger coordination across the company and closer engagement with the markets it serves. His tenure began on October 1; the company’s next phase will show how those priorities guide its work in fibers and nonwovens.

Posted: October 26, 2026

Source: The Schill+Seilacher Group