Terex Cranes has appointed new directors to its all-terrain and rough-terrain crane product divisions who will lead the global teams of their respective verticals.
The global construction equipment major said in a statement that Frank Schröder will lead the all-terrain crane division as director of Product Management, while Suresh Natarajan will be the new director of Product Management for rough-terrain cranes.
Schröder and Natarajan will lead the global product management teams in the formulation and execution of product line development and strategies, based primarily on feedback from customers and regional sales team members, Terex Cranes said.
The appointments are part of the company’s new product engineering and management approach under a strategy to better align its resources towards a more efficient design and development process, the statement said, adding that the objectives of the exercise are to foster innovation, increase crane quality and reliability, and speed up product development and marketing times.
“We have assembled a global product team for our four global crane product lines: all-terrains, crawlers, rough-terrains and towers,” said Ken Lousberg, president of Terex Cranes. “These teams will work closely with our customers to ensure we develop products that benefit their current and future needs. They will also work closely with our engineering teams and new Engineering Competency Centers to ensure consistency in product design.”
Schröder has been with Terex Cranes for 16 years and has held various roles in the manufacturing headquarters in Zweibrücken, Germany. He began his career with Terex in the engineering department, moving to customer support, where he served as director of Parts and Service for four years. Most recently he was the director of Commercial and Product Support Strategy.
Natarajan has eight years of experience in the crane industry and served as director of Global Electrical Engineering prior to departing Terex in 2011. He returns to Terex Cranes from a multinational crane equipment manufacturer to lead product development and strategy efforts globally for Terex’s rough-terrain cranes.
“Both Suresh and Frank offer a wealth of crane equipment engineering and development experience for Terex Cranes. They are the right fit to lead our product management teams at the global level and advance our engineering expertise, responsiveness and excellence,” Harry Bussmann, Terex’s group vice president, Global Engineering, Product Management and Marketing, said in the statement, which added that Terex Cranes will announce further positions in the course of the year.
