Rockford Systems Appoints New CEO

Rockford Systems, LLC (Rockford, IL), a leading manufacturer of machine and control safeguarding solutions for metal fabricating, metal cutting and turning machine tools, announced that its board of directors has appointed Joe Nitiss as their new chief executive officer. Capitalizing on his experience with Fortune 500 companies, Nitiss will be leading the company in advancing its place as a trusted supplier and advisor for a broad range of machine applications in industrial markets.

Moving beyond products, Rockford provides services such as risk assessment, training, machine surveys and compliance validation to promote a safer and healthier industrial workplace for employees. Nitiss aims to expand this market strategy, developing new and diverse consulting solutions to keep customers compliant with stringent OSHA and ANISI machine safeguarding regulations. “I am very excited to be leading these efforts to accelerate growth,” he said. “We are in a very strong place with a deep bench of machine safety experts to help consult on customers’ projects, coupled with a line-up of innovative products to fuel our momentum.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, machinery and machine guarding was one of the top ten most frequently cited OSHA violations in 2015. When used correctly, Rockford Systems’ OSHA-approved products prevent severe injuries by shielding hazardous areas of a machine to prevent contact with the operator and to control dangerous by-products such as metal chips, from exiting the machine. The company also performs on-site machine surveys, machine risk assessment, compliance validation, stop time measurements, employee training and product installation to assist customers in meeting or exceeding the OSHA regulations and ANSI standards for machine guarding.

Nitiss was previously the general manager of the North American business unit of Elster, a provider of gas, electricity and water meters. He also spearheaded major strategy and technical shifts as the president of North America of Emerson’s Chloride Group. During his tenure overseeing Genesis Cable (now Honeywell Cable) as the general manager of the division, they outperformed competitors in the residential structured wiring and home automation market space. Prior to those positions he was the vice president of marketing and business development for Honeywell International and the vice president of marketing for Emerson Electric Co. Nitiss holds an MBA in Finance and Marketing from The University of Chicago, where he also received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration, Economics.

www.rockfordsystems.com