Achim Mergenthaler (47) will be taking over as manager of the
Chinese production site Heidelberg Graphic Equipment (Shanghai) Co.
(HGES) of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) in Qingpu on
August 1, 2012. He succeeds Stefan Hasenzahl (49), who will assume
a leading cross-site management role within the Heidelberg Group.
Mergenthaler studied at the Mannheim University of Applied
Sciences. After graduating, he supervised several planning projects
for Heidelberg at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site from 1991 onwards.
Following several management roles in the company's assembly
operations, in 1999 he took charge of Printmaster GTO 52 assembly,
followed by "CtP assembly integration" in 2003. From
mid-2003, he was responsible for long parts production at the
Heidelberg site in Brandenburg.
Mergenthaler has been involved in developing the Heidelberg
production site in Qingpu, China, since the project had been
launched in 2005. As project manager, he was initially based in
Wiesloch-Walldorf and was responsible for developing assembly of
small-format sheetfed offset presses at the new site, before
heading up assembly and logistics at the Qingpu site itself in
2006. In 2011, he was put in charge of the Technology unit in
Qingpu and was made deputy managing director at the plant.
Stefan Hasenzahl has been working at Heidelberg since graduating in
engineering in 1988. Following several management roles for the
company in Germany and other countries, he was tasked with
developing and managing HGES in Qingpu in January 2005. He was
significantly involved in the successful development of the
production site in China.
Following the start of construction in 2005, the first
Heidelberg production site in Asia was taken into operation in
spring 2006. Located in the Qingpu industrial zone, the site was
built to state-of-the-art standards and now features a production
area of around 45,000 square meters (approx. 484,000 square feet),
making it one of the largest printing press production facilities
in Asia. Heidelberg has been producing standard presses and folding
machines at Qingpu, primarily for the local market, since 2006.
Production started with folding machines in 2005, followed by the
Speedmaster SM 52 and, from 2007, the Speedmaster SM 74. Production
of the Speedmaster CD 102 began in 2009.
Every third machine sold by Heidelberg in China now comes
from its production facilities there. Since exports began in 2010,
Speedmaster SM 74-4 and SM 52-4 presses have been shipped to
Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and
Singapore.
The Qingpu site near Shanghai, employing a workforce of
around 500, is fully integrated into the Heidelberg production
network, which also includes the German sites in Wiesloch-Walldorf,
Amstetten, and Brandenburg and Nové Mesto in Slovakia.
Figure 1: Achim Mergenthaler will be taking over as manager
of the Heidelberg production site in Qingpu, China, on August 1,
2012.
Figure 2: Stefan Hasenzahl was significantly involved in the
successful development of the Qingpu site. He will be assuming a
cross-site management role in the Heidelberg Group on August 1,
2012.
For image material and further information about the company,
please visit the Press Lounge of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG at
www.heidelberg.com.
For further information, please contact:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Corporate Public Relations
Thomas Fichtl
Phone: +49 (0)6221 92-5900
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92-5069
E-mail:
thomas.fichtl@heidelberg.com