Management Changes at TRUMPF

The manufacturer of precision fabrication machinery and laser systems makes some new appointments to its management team.

TRUMPF Inc. (Farmington, CT) recently appointed Dr. Christof Lehner as the new general manager of the Laser Technology Center (Plymouth, MI), which specializes in high powered CO2 lasers and pulsed and continuous wave (cw) solidstate lasers, as well as laser systems. In this role, Dr. Lehner will be responsible for laser division sales, service and support in North America and will report to Rolf Biekert, the president and CEO of TRUMPF Inc.

Dr. Lehner joined TRUMPF Laser GmbH + Co. KG (Schramberg, Germany) in 2002, after completing his Dr.–Ing. (PhD) in mechanical engineering at Technische Universität München, where he served as a product manager for pulsed lasers. In 2003, he was promoted to head of sales for low power lasers and later to head of sales, solid-state lasers. Dr. Lehner then transferred to the TRUMPF Group headquarters (Ditzingen, Germany) where he most recently served as the director of international sales in Western Europe, providing technical sales support and strategic guidance of the laser divisions in that region.

“With ongoing plans to significantly increase staff and application lab equipment and capabilities, and with the continual development of a vast array of cutting edge laser products and systems from our manufacturing centers, the Laser Technology Center is poised to achieve our goals. I am excited to have the opportunity and privilege to lead the Plymouth organization and am looking forward to working together with the entire team,” said Dr. Lehner.

Stephan Bundschu has assumed the role of vice president of engineering and manufacturing at the Farmington campus, where he is now responsible for overseeing the machine assembly, components, sheetmetal, tooling and purchasing departments. He will also continue to manage the engineering department.

Bundschu began his TRUMPF career in Ditzingen, Germany in 1991, transferred to Farmington in 2002 and assumed the role of chief engineer of special projects. Since January 2004, he has served as the director of engineering. During his tenure Bundschu has successfully established an Engineering Product Development Center and has been responsible for the introduction of several new products for sales on the world market. In his new role, he will continue to report directly to Biekert.

Shane Simpson has been appointed as the regional manager of machine tool sales for the Mid-Atlantic Region of the U.S. He assumes his new role with 17 years of experience within the machine tool group at TRUMPF, spanning field service, applications, automation systems and product management.

In his new position, Simpson will be responsible for the Mid-Atlantic Region that includes North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and southern New Jersey. He will manage the sales of precision fabricating machinery, including laser cutting, punching, combination punch-laser and press brake technologies.

Tom Bailey has been appointed the new product manager for the TruBend Product Group in North America. He began his career at TRUMPF in 2006 as an applications engineer where he provided sales support and applications consultation for sheet metal component design and forming processes.

In his most recent role, Bailey served as a sales engineer for laser machine tools. In his new role with the press brake product line, including TruBend and BendMaster technologies, Bailey will report directly to Jim Rogowski, the director of machine and power tool sales.

TRUMPF is one of the world’s largest producers of fabricating machinery and a world market leader in lasers used for industrial production technology. www.us.trumpf.com