Engel's CEO Neumann to retire

Schwertberg, Austria - Engel Holding GmbH, the Austria-based manufacturer of injection moulding equipment, has announced that Peter Neumann, its CEO and long-time chairman, will withdraw from the day-to-day running of the company by the end of the year.

Neumann will be replaced at the helm of the group’s executive board by Stefan Engleder, the great-grandson of Engel’s founder Ludwig Engel, who will take over Neumann’s roles on 1 Dec, about a month after K 2016 in Düsseldorf, Germany, where Engel will be at Hall 15, stands B42 and C58.

With an engineering background, Engleder will also have responsibility for research and development activities, a spokeswoman for Engel said. Engelder current is chief technology officer for the Schwertberg, Austria, company.

Neumann would meanwhile “stay very close to the company” in a consultancy capacity, she added.

Speaking about the move, Neumann said in a news release: “This step has been long planned on the occasion of my 60th birthday and is the result of a clear mutual agreement between myself and the owning families of the Engel Group of companies.”

Engleder said: “It is a great honor and also a challenge taking over the chairmanship.

“He has shaped the company for decades and played a significant part in the success of the business. Thus, it has been all the more important to prepare the transition well on a long-term basis.

“We have managed this process very well over the last couple of years. Together with my colleagues in the executive board we aim to continue the business [as Neumann would] and following up from where we are today.”

In addition to Engleder the Engel executive board will be made up of three other members: Christoph Steger, who is also a family member and responsible for sales, marketing and will add the customer service division duties in the future; Klaus Siegmund who is responsible for finance, personnel and IT; and Joachim Metzmacher, who will be responsible for global production.

In 2014 Engel reported sales of more than €1 billio.