He is also the new regional CEO of Hitachi Construction Machinery for Europe, Russia, CIS, Middle East, and North and Central Africa.
He is no stranger to The Netherlands, where HCME has its headquarters, having previously worked as HCME’s sales and marketing general manager from 1992-1998.
“Europe is a tough, competitive market and there is a wide range of requirements, even between the different applications in each country,” he said.
“Emerging markets surrounding Europe are also becoming increasingly important to HCME, as well as local infrastructure and mining projects in the current climate.
“Our collective aim, along with our sister companies and the Hitachi dealer network, is to leverage our strengths in the products and services for mining and other large-scale contracts.
“Hitachi has a diversified business and product range, but we are heavily focused on medium and large excavators. So, I would like to place more of an emphasis on mini excavators and wheeled loaders.
“In addition, the Support Chain after-sales programme will be a priority to ensure that our population of machines can work even more reliably under the toughest of conditions. Furthermore, thanks to our extensive dealer network, our customers can receive the highest level of service.”
His first goal will be the successful introduction of the new Zaxis-5 excavators and ZW-5 wheel loaders, and he has a clear vision of how the Hitachi brand should be perceived: “Hitachi is extremely focused on engineering and so our engineers are always interested in listening to customers’ requirements and the problems they want to solve. This is the key to our proposition.”
He has a long-term perspective on HCME’s future.
“Most importantly, Hitachi has been in Europe and the neighbouring markets since the 1970s and HCME has a key role as a regional headquarters for these territories. The good news for our dealers and customers is that we are here to stay and we look forward to working together with them.”
His varied career with Hitachi Construction Machinery started in 1981 after graduating in Economics from Keio University in his native Japan. For the first five years, he worked in the Overseas Sales Department and then he moved to the Overseas Cooperation Department in 1986.
After returning from his assignment at HCME, he took on managerial roles in the Finance Department and Corporate Planning Office up to 2002.
His first posts as a general manager were at the Supply Chain Management Office and Sales Administration Department (two years each), followed by six years in the Americas Department until March 2012.
