The Supervisory Board of the KraussMaffei Group announced a management reorganization. The previous chairman of the Supervisory Board, Chi Zhang, has been appointed as the new CEO effective Jan. 10.
The previous CEO, Yong Li, will take on the newly created position of chief administrative officer, with responsibilities to include corporate HR, IT and auditing. Shihao Yang from the top management of KraussMaffei's main shareholder Sinochem will head the Supervisory Board.
The change strengthens the KraussMaffei Group’s Management Board, which will be increased to three members. Jörg Bremer remains a member of the Management Board as CFO.
Zhang has been with Sinochem for more than two decades in a variety of executive, operational and project-related management positions. Since the end of 2022, he has been the chairman of China National Chemical Equipment Co., a Sinochem Holdings company and owner of the KraussMaffei Group.
“I am very much looking forward to this new role,” Zhang said. “With our new, further strengthened management team, the support of our main shareholder Sinochem and the many committed and highly competent colleagues in Germany and around the world, we have the best prerequisites to put KraussMaffei back on the road to success.”
The company also announced that Ralf Benack takes over KraussMaffei’s the European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) division for extrusion effective Jan. 1. As managing director, he is responsible for the business and the development of extrusion technology worldwide.
CEO Zhang said: “I warmly welcome Ralf Benack to KraussMaffei. With his many years of experience in management positions in EMEA and APAC [the Asian-Pacific region] and his expertise in the design, sale and implementation of integrated solutions for customers, he will lead KraussMaffei Extrusion EMEA to a next stage and develop the technology together with the global team. I am very much looking forward to working with him.”