Manitowoc expands management in Asia Pacific
08 October 2010
US-based Manitowoc Cranes is reorganising its senior leadership in Asia Pacific as the region continues to grow in importance for the company.
Gilles Martin, executive vice president for the region, will now manage all countries except China. John Wheeler has been appointed to the new role of executive vice president for China.
Eric Etchart, Manitowoc Cranes president, said the new appointments were an important step in making sure customers are well served in the region.
"Asia Pacific is diverse and complex, and it is also the world's fastest growing market for crane sales," Etchart said. "We have decided to increase our senior management resources to give the region the attention it deserves. China is now such an important market for our industry that we feel it needs a dedicated senior executive managing operations. John is a highly experienced leader within our company, and his knowledge and expertise will be invaluable in developing our presence in China.
"Gilles has done a fantastic job in the three years he has worked as EVP of Asia Pacific. He will now concentrate solely on the diverse and growing markets outside China, where our company has considerable presence and where we anticipate a greater amount of business in the future. Manitowoc will refer to this new region as the Greater Asia Pacific region."
Wheeler will relocate from the USA to Shanghai and report directly to Eric Etchart. Manitowoc is already established in China, with a factory for Potain tower cranes and Manitowoc crawler cranes in Zhangjiagang and a factory for DongYue wheeled mobile cranes in TaiAn. There is also an established sales and dealer network and Manitowoc Crane Care support.
Wheeler will also accelerate lean manufacturing, quality and engineering initiatives at Manitowoc's Chinese factories.
In addition to managing sales and marketing operations, Martin will have responsibility for Manitowoc's tower crane factory in Pune, India and its licence agreement for Grove rough terrain cranes with TIL in Kolkata, India.
