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Manitowoc Cranes is reorganizing its senior leadership in Asia-Pacific as the region continues to grow in importance for the company. Gilles Martin, the current 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, president of Manitowoc Cranes, 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,” he 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.”
John Wheeler, who is currently based in the U.S., will relocate to Shanghai for his new role and will report directly to Eric Etchart. He is well-known in the industry, having previously served with Manitowoc in a variety of roles, including EVP of the Americas region and EVP of Operational Excellence. Manitowoc is already well-established in China, with a factory for Potain tower cranes and Manitowoc crawler cranes in Zhangjiagang and one for DongYue mobile cranes in TaiAn. The company also has a well-established sales and dealer network and full Manitowoc Crane Care customer support.
Wheeler’s task will be to leverage Manitowoc’s position and pursue the opportunities available in China. The country is now the world’s largest crane market with demand remaining strong due to the huge number of infrastructure and general construction works in progress. In addition to improving sales opportunities, Wheeler will also accelerate lean manufacturing, quality and engineering initiatives at Manitowoc’s Chinese factories.
Gilles Martin will relocate from Shanghai to Singapore and will continue to report to Eric Etchart. Manitowoc is anticipating growth in many countries in the Greater Asia-Pacific area especially India, Australia and the ASEAN region. Martin will use his considerable knowledge and experience of these markets to pursue the many growth opportunities available. He will continue to manage all marketing activities in his region, ensuring Manitowoc customers take full advantage of the productivity and profitability benefits available through the company’s cranes.
In addition to managing sales and marketing operations, Martin will also have responsibility for Manitowoc’s tower crane factory in Pune, India and its license agreement for Grove rough-terrain cranes with TIL in Kolkata, India.
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