Sumitomo (SHI) Demag Plastics Machinery GmbH has appointed Siegfried Köhler as group chief sales officer, with effect from 1 October.

He will use his expertise in both injection moulding and peripheral manufacturing equipment to “further strengthen
Sumitomo (SHI) Demag’s focus of aligning international sales with automation and business development and build on the company’s rapidly expanding presence in all key international injection moulding markets”.

Mr Köhler will work closely with CEO Gerd Liebig (www.sumitomo-shi-demag.eu), who said: “Group sales have increased by 50% in recent years, which is testament to our strong global consulting teams.

"Having already initiated programmes to optimise production efficiency in our facilities in Schwaig and Wiehe in Germany and Ningbo in China, we are now looking to build on our international presence.

"Mr Köhler’s experience and successful track record will help to deliver complete supply chain integration to maximise manufacturing efficiency.”

Mr Köhler said: “Customer requirements for overall solution concepts are increasing steadily. Smart machine technologies, combined with various application technologies, intuitive controls and ‘harmonised work cells’ are critical to growth and success — now and in the future.

"Co-operation with innovative partner companies will be necessary to strengthen our competitiveness.

"We will focus on implementing projects that play to these strengths and build upon our automation and technical expertise to meet the expectations of our customers in all markets.”