Kenichi Sawada has been named the new president and CEO of Tadano Faun GmbH. He succeeds Alexander Knecht, who will continue in an advisory role with the company until the end of 2017.
Sawada started his career with Tadano more than 25 years ago, and he has worked in sales, promotions, and planning, and served as president of Tadano America. Most recently in his capacity as officer at the Japanese parent company, he managed the after-sales service, used cranes, and information/communication technology. In addition to his function as CEO at Tadano Faun, he will manage after-sales service, spare parts, finance, and IT.
Knecht, which was with Tadano Faun for eight years, focused primarily on improving company structures and processes with the aim to further enhance product and service quality. Sawada said: “Mr. Knecht did a brilliant job for the company, and I would like to thank him cordially on behalf of the entire Tadano Group for doing so. I intend to build upon Mr. Knecht`s work and use my own experience to lead the company to a successful future.”
Along with the change of CEO, other management changes at Tadano Faun include:
- Ulrich Zschenderlein, formerly general manager material management within the company, will be director of operations and will be responsible for the material management, production and steel construction;
- Hiroaki Sakai, recently responsible for quality & service as director in BQ Tadano in China, is taking over the quality management area.
- Rolf Sonntag, who had been working in various areas of the company for more than 25 years and has been a member of the board of directors of Tadano Faun since 2007, will be heading the areas sales & marketing, order processing, and HR.
- Thomas Schramm, holder of commercial power of attorney (“Prokura”) and general manager sales & marketing, is leaving the company voluntarily. His tasks, including management of the subsidiaries Tadano UK Ltd. and Tadano France SAS, will be assumed as of immediately by Sonntag.
