New CEO appointed at KraussMaffei Group

Li Yong. Photo Credit: KraussMaffei Group

There will be a new CEO and management board chairman at German plastics machinery maker KraussMaffei Group (KMG) effective Jan. 1, 2023.

The company, which is headquartered in Munich, has announced that Li Yong will assume the roles, replacing current CEO Michael Ruf.

In a Nov. 29 news release, KrassMaffei officials said that Ruf had made a “personal request not to extend his contract,” which expires at the end of March 2023.

Ruf will remain KMG management board chairman and CEO until Dec. 31, 2022, with his responsibilities transferred to Li on Jan. 1. “Until his contract’s expiration…Ruf will continue to work to ensure a comprehensive handover and a smooth transition,” the release said. “He will also remain involved in some ongoing projects.”

Ruf has been a member of the KMG management board since April 2019, initially as chief operating officer and, since April 2020, as CEO for KMG and for KraussMaffei Co. Ltd.

New CEO Li Yong has been with Sinochem, short for China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., which is the principal owner of KMG, for nearly two decades in a variety of executive, operational, and project management positions. “Having spent a third of his career abroad, he has intensive intercultural cooperation experience,” the release said. “He has already been involved in KraussMaffei’s business since June 2022.”

“[Ruf] has decisively driven KraussMaffei’s transformation and set an important course for the future, for which I am very grateful,” Yong said. “Together with our main shareholder Sinochem, KraussMaffei is now ready for the next step. We will expand KraussMaffei’s technological lead and continue to drive forward the company’s internationalization. I am convinced that with our teams’ commitment, together we will write the next chapter in the company’s distinguished history.”

KMG supplies injection molding machinery, reaction process technology, extrusion technology, and automation.