New CEO at KraussMaffei Group

Chi Zhang.
Photo Credit: KraussMaffei Group

Machinery maker KraussMaffei Group has a new CEO after a management reorganization.

The Munich, Germany-based company’s previous supervisory board chairman Chi Zhang is assuming the role of CEO, with the previous CEO, Yong Li, taking on the newly created position of chief administrative officer.

Also, Shihao Yang from the top management of KraussMaffei’s main shareholder Sinochem will head the supervisory board. The change will be accompanied by what KraussMaffei officials say will be a “significant strengthening of its management board.” Jörg Bremer remains a member of that group as chief financial officer.

Chi Zhang has been with Sinochem for more than two decades in a variety of executive, operational and project-related management positions. Since the end of 2022, he has been the chairman of China National Chemical Equipment Company (CNCE), a Sinochem Holdings company and owner of the KraussMaffei Group.

“I am very much looking forward to this new role,” Zhang said in a statement. “With our new, further strengthened management team, the support of our main shareholder Sinochem and the many committed and highly competent colleagues in Germany and around the world, we have the best prerequisites to put KraussMaffei back on the road to success.”

KraussMaffei has made several moves in the past to streamline its operations in response to what it has called an “overall challenging market environment.” Most recently, in March 2023, it announced plans to cut several hundred jobs in “non-production areas” as part of a “worldwide adjustment and efficiency program.”