Machinery maker KraussMaffei Group is shuffling its leadership group with Chi Zhang taking over as CEO.
Zhang is the previous chairman of KraussMaffei's supervisory board. The previous CEO, Yong Li, has been named to the newly created position of chief administrative officer where he will oversee corporate human relations, information technology and auditing. He had served as CEO since January 2022.
Shihao Yang from the top management of KraussMaffei's majority shareholder, Sinochem, will head the supervisory board. The change will be accompanied by what it says will be a significant strengthening of its management board. Jörg Bremer remains a member of that group as chief financial officer.
"The past year has been very challenging, but with the strong commitment and dedicated efforts of our team, we have made some good progress," Li said. "There is still a lot to be done to reach our target, and we will keep moving forward. I will continue to give my best to KraussMaffei, and I am looking forward to working with the expanded management board under the leadership of Chi Zhang."
At Fakuma 2023, KraussMaffei officials spoke about the bleakness of the current economic situation and the difficulties the industry has been facing over the past few years.
Zhang has been with Sinochem, KraussMaffei's main shareholder, 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.
"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," he said.