Mission Statement
Represent. Support. Inform. Study.
FEC was created in 1952 to defend the interests of the European Cookware, Cutlery, Flatware and Hollowware manufacturers.
It promotes co-operation between members, gives help and supports on economic and technical improvements, works to the definition of technical standards and officially represents the common interests of its members before the international authorities and particularly to the European Commission in Brussels.


FEC’s major fields of work are
- Tracking the international regulations relevant to the product groups of FEC.
- Representing our industry in European committees, where legal aspects of the products and business processes are involved: food contact, chemical legislation, sustainability, reporting, due diligence, etc.
- Servicing as a platform to join the industries interests in common projects: research, surveys, events, etc.
Directors‘ Committee
The Directors‘ Committee, including the President and the Vice-President, consists of representatives of our member companies and associations. The Directors‘ Committee is in charge of all activities of FEC.

Tobias Gerfin
President | CEO, Kuhn Rikon, Switzerland
After his studies and his doctorate at the ETH Zurich as a natural scientist, he worked at the EPF Lausanne on solar cells. His industrial career led him to Bruker in Fällanden in the field of NMR, Optrel, a leading company for welding helmets, in Toggenburg, and Glas Trösch in Bützberg, where he took over the management of the glass in interior work in 2007. In 2010 Tobias Gerfin was appointed CEO of Stoll Giroflex AG in Koblenz in the office furniture sector.

Gernot Strehl
Vice-President | Head of Product Compliance, ZWILLING J.A. Henckels AG
At Zwilling he is responsible for product compliance on a global level with a special focus on food contact and chemical legislation. Within the Senior Expert team in FEC metals & alloys as well as ceramics and enamel are his key interests.

Huguette Gérard
Financial Administrator | Déléguée Générale, Unitam, France

Clemente Bugatti
Member | Vice President, FIAC, Italy

Ludovic Guitton
CSFO, De Buyer Group, France
After completing his engineering studies at Ecole Polytechnique Paris (mechanics and economics) and Imperial College London (transport engineering), he got an MBA at College des Ingénieurs. He first worked for large companies as project manager, BU director and business control director. In 2015, he joined the investment team of Edify, a private equity holding, and was member of the board of directors of 3 companies (de Buyer, Sirem and Thermo Technologies).

Eike Sträter
CEO, Flügel CSS and PCM Proficut Messertechnik, Germany

Pierre-Armand Lemoine
Executive Vice-President Cookware, Groupe SEB, France

Martin Geiger
Member | Vice President Operations, WMF Group, Germany

Alessandra Coppo
Member | Production Manager, Sambonet Paderno Industrie, Italy.
LEGAL AND FINANCES
Our legal and finance activities are handled at our headquarter in France in close cooperation with UNITAM.

Huguette Gérard
Financial Administrator | Déléguée Générale, Unitam, France
MARKETING AND MEMBERS
Our marketing and member activities are handled by our office in Solingen.

Stefanie Menning
FEC Coordinator
REGULATIONS
FEC´s policy & Regulatory activities and the Sustainable-Development Working Group are supported by our office in Brussels.

Dario Dainelli
M. Sc. Chemistry

Alessa Lübke
Food Chemist and Regulatory Manager, FEC
Alessa Maria Lübke studied food chemistry at the university of Hamburg, Germany and and completed her first state examination in 2021. Her second examination as state-certified food chemist followed in 2022. Alessa is currently working as food chemist scientific regulatory officer at Polymer Comply Europe. Her professional field of activities includes among others several sustainability projects as well as regulatory consulting with focus on REACH and CLP. Since October 2023, she has been supporting the FEC office in Brussels as well as the Sustainability Development Team and the Food-Contact Expert team of FEC.
TESTIMONIALS
„I am proud that FEC reached over the last years high reputation and acceptance by the European Authorities and that the important international European Consumer Good Trade Shows welcome the Partnership of FEC as the representative of our industry.“
Dr. Wolfgang Auwärter