The world's largest automotive systems supplier has a new boss in Europe, and MonoSol and NDC Infrared have boosted their ranks. Engel, meanwhile, has won a top award in recognition of the company's management's skill in steering the firm through and beyond the recession. Erema's positive results are indicative of the growth of the plastics recycling industry as well as the company's own developmental efforts.   

We'll start with Denso, which announced the appointment of Yoshikazu Makino to president and CEO of Denso Intl. Europe B.V., the automotive Tier 1's regional headquarters in Weesp, the Netherlands. Makino also is executive director of Denso Corp.; in Europe he succeeds Shigehiro Nishimura, who is going to be in charge of the company's operations in the Asia/Pacific region.

Prior to being named to his new position, Makino oversaw the global business planning division at Denso Corp., Kariya, Japan. In this position, he contributed to the strengthening of regional management capabilities in growing markets such as China, India and Brazil. In Europe, Denso employs approximately 13,000, with consolidated sales totaling €3.55 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011.

At MonoSol LLC (Merrillville, IN), a processor of water soluble polymer film and supplier of water soluble polymer pellets, Hanna Necel has been hired as sales & technical support agent for Poland, Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia and Ukraine. "We are very pleased that Hanna will represent us in Eastern Europe," said Woody Eaker, director of global sales for MonoSol. "She displays a great depth of knowledge about the water-soluble film industry and will put that understanding to good use for our clients and partners."

Necel handled export sales for two Polish film processors before joining MonoSol.

NDC Infrared Engineering, which markets non-contact sensors and systems used in applications including plastic film extrusion, appointed Jim Wickert as manager of advanced services development for North America. His responsibilities will involve developing NDC's optimization and applications programs to help customers he pleased with the return on investment (ROI) from their web gauging systems.

Wickert brings with him over 25 years of experience in general automation and web gauging systems. Prior to joining NDC, he had senior management roles with EuroTherm Gauging Systems, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Mahlo America.

Officials at injection molding machine manufacturer Engel (Schwertberg, Austria), meanwhile, are celebrating their nomination for entry into the Hall of Fame for businesses located in Upper Austria. The company earlier this month was awarded the gold Pegasus Prize, a special award for its management's efforts in successfully navigating the firm through the recent recession. The annually awarded Pegasus Prize is the highest recognition for a business in the land.

After the massive drop in business seen in 2009, Engel rebounded to levels seen in 2008, a boom year, in less than12 months. Indeed, as we recently reported here, Engel saw its sales rebound from €358 million in the year ending March 2010 to €615 million in the year to March 2011. The company predicts sales for the FY in progress to hit €700 million, a new record for the manufacturer. The company credits its employees' flexibility, a strengthening of its international sales presence and product innovation for its rapid recovery.

In Ansfelden, Austria, less than an hour west of Engel, sits plastics recycling machinery manufacturer Erema, and there too good financial results have given management reason to smile. The company ended its 2010/2011 fiscal year with record figures: consolidated sales achieved by the Erema Group reached €95 million for the period from Apr.1, 2010 -March 31, 2011.

Order intake rose from €75 million (2009/2010) to the highest level ever seen at the company, €127 million. This new record, an increase of 70% from the previous FY, also is 30% above the previous record order intake of 2007/2008.

Erema officials attribute the success to further developments in the company's plant and process technologies, which have increased both customer benefits and the price/performance ratio of the machines. In addition, the market for plastics recycling machinery has improved across the board (Erema competitor and neighboring Austrian firm NGR also recently had top results, as we reported recently.) Erema now employs 335 employees, an increase in the past FY.