Rutronik is penetrating further into the Asia/Pacific markets opening new offices in Xiang, China and Bangkok, Thailand to serve the south-east Asian and Indian markets. It has also named Gerhard Weinhardt as the new General Manager. He replaces Lambert Hilkes who is retiring at the end of March.
The Bangkok office has been integrated into the Rutronik structure, enabling support for European projects and designs. All deliveries originate from a warehouse in Hong Kong. “South-east Asia and India will be strategically important markets for Rutronik in the future,” explains Markus Krieg, Managing Director Marketing at Rutronik. “In particular, Thailand, Indonesia and the Indian subcontinent are recording high growth rates, with respect to both exports and increasing domestic demand.”
Peter Klöpfer (pictured), Sales Director South-East Asia and India, is responsible for the sales region and reports directly to Markus Krieg. Beginning as an FAE before becoming a product group manager in Marketing, Klöpfer has worked at Rutronik for 18 years. Most recently, during his time as Technical Director, he played a significant part in setting up the Rutronik branch offices in China.
“Highly qualified in terms of both strategic and technical skills, Peter Klöpfer also demonstrates great understanding of the Asian mindset, and he will successfully establish Rutronik in the ASEAN/India region,” says Markus Krieg.
The branch office in Xiang (China) provides support for the existing offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu (China), Hong Kong and Taipei (Taiwan). Here, more than 40 staff from the respective region serve Rutronik customers on site as field sales engineers, internal sales assistants and field application engineers. “We are recording astonishing growth in China, more than half of which is generated by Asian customers. In order to maintain our service level, we must continue to expand here,” says Markus Krieg.
New general manager Weinhardt has more than 14 years of sales and distribution experience in the electronics industry. Since 2000, he has held a number of different positions at Rutronik, the most recent being Sales Director Asia.
“Lambert Hilkes played a significant part in the development and establishing of Rutronik Asia, setting it on an extremely successful and promising course. We thank him for the knowledge he has brought to the company and the commitment he has shown. We wish him all the best for the future. In Gerhard Weinhardt, we have found an extremely competent and ambitious successor, who will continue the successful advancement of our Asian business,” explains Markus Krieg.
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