Sawada succeeds Knecht as Tadano Faun CEO

20 July 2017 by Sotiris Kanaris

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Kenichi Sawada will succeed Alexander Knecht as the new CEO of Tadano Faun.

In addition to his function as CEO, Sawada will manage after-sales service, spare parts, finance and IT within the company.

Sawada commenced his career within the Tadano Group in the sales force for the Middle East sales territory more than 25 years ago. After seven years, he moved to the sales promotion and planning department.

Five years later, he was designated president of Tadano America Corporation, heading the US business. Recently, in his capacity as officer within the Japanese parent company of the group, he managed the after-sales service, used cranes and information/communication technology.

With almost 40 years of experience in the crane industry, his predecessor Knecht modernized Tadano Faun significantly during his eight-year tenure. His work focused primarily on improving company structures and processes with the aim to further enhance product and service quality. Knecht will continue in an advisory function for Tadano Faun until the end of the year and will be taking on other challenges from 2018.

Along with the change of CEO, other posts will be newly assigned in the management of the company. Ulrich Zschenderlein, formerly general manager material management within the company, will be responsible for material management, production and steel construction as director of operations.

Hiroaki Sakai, recently responsible for quality & service as director in BQ Tadano in China, is taking over quality management at Faun.

Rolf Sonntag, who had been working in various areas of the company for over 25 years and has been a member of the board of directors of Tadano Faun since 2007, will be heading the sales & marketing, order processing and HR.

Another staff change concerns Thomas Schramm, holder of commercial power of attorney ("Prokura") and general manager sales & marketing, who is leaving the company voluntarily. His tasks, including management of the subsidiaries Tadano UK and Tadano France SAS, will be assumed immediately by Sonntag.