Capital Equipment News June 2016

NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER for Isuzu Truck South Africa

C raig Uren, Chief Operating Officer of Isuzu Truck South Africa, announced the appointment of Hiroaki Sugawara as Chief Executive Officer of the South African operations. He is replacing Hiroshi Nishizaka, who will be relocating to Australia, on a fixed term, after numerous years of dedicated service in South Africa. During his tenure, 4 550 units were sold in 2015 and a corresponding 14, 9% overall market share ensured that Isuzu Trucks ended as the number one supplier for the third year in a row. “I am glad to join Isuzu Truck South Africa, and to continue the success path instituted by my predecessor. Beyond its renowned expertise among global customers, Isuzu Trucks has a solid reputation in South Africa, which puts it in a good position to meet its ambitious growth strategy in an ever-challenging economic environment,” said Sugawara. Sugawara started his career in the auto- motive sector in 1980 as an electrical en- gineer, when he was involved in planning the new automated chassis assembly and the new cab assembly line for the N-series and increasing production capacity in the Thai and Malaysia markets, to name a few. From 2002 until 2012, Sugawara was the General Manager and Group Leader of the Service Marketing Department in Japan. He was responsible for the foundation of the ‘World Service Skill’ contest in ISUZU (I-1 GP), starting the ‘World Service Conference’ as well as cross-functional activity of service, establishing new service skill criteria, developing the geographical marketing method and increasing the aftersales business in the domestic market. He was promoted to general manager of the Parts Planning Department in 2012. During his two-year term he increased the parts fill rate with Kaizen activity. He ac- cepted the position of general manager for the sales promotion department in 2014 and soon organised the ‘Economy & Safety Seminar’ as well as the ‘New Products Pro- motion’. He was also involved in planning the CV sales-expanding project. In 2014, he furthered his career to general manager for the International Sales Department, where he was in charge of West and South Asia and one South Pacific

area. He developed new markets in Iran and Uzbekistan and improved the business amount. Sugawara graduated from the Akita Tech- nical College and has been with Isuzu Co. for 35 years. Craig Uren said: “We are pleased to welcome Hiroaki Sugawara to our team. We predict that he will make a meaningful contribution to Isuzu Truck South Africa by utilising his engineering, marketing and management expertise in the automotive and transport sectors.” b

Hiroaki Sugawara, Chief Executive Officer of South African operations.

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS JUNE 2016 28