Terex Cranes has appointed Frank Schröder as director of product management for all-terrain cranes and named Suresh Natarajan as director of product management for rough-terrain cranes.
In those newly established positions, Schröder and Natarajan will lead the global product management teams in the development and execution of product-line development and strategy, based primarily on feedback from customers and regional sales team members.
The key appointments are part of Terex Cranes’ new product engineering, development, and management approach. The strategy better aligns the company’s resources toward a more efficient design and development process that fosters innovation, increases crane quality and reliability, and speeds up product development and introduction to the market.
“We have assembled a global product team for our four global crane product lines: all terrains, crawlers, rough terrains, and towers,” explained Ken Lousberg, president of Terex Cranes. “These teams will work closely with our customers to ensure we develop products that benefit their current and future needs. At the same time, they will also work closely with our local engineering teams and new engineering competency centers to ensure consistency in product design.”
Terex Cranes will announce further positions in the course of the year.
Leading these efforts for Demag all-terrain cranes, Schröder has been with Terex Cranes for 16 years and has held various roles in the Zweibrücken manufacturing headquarters. He began his career with Terex in the engineering department and later moved to customer support, where he held multiple management positions and served as director of parts and service for four years. Most recently, Schröder was director of commercial and product-support strategy, where he supported the segment’s processes for improving and developing global sales and service.
Natarajan returns to Terex Cranes from a multinational crane equipment manufacturer to lead product development and strategy efforts globally for Terex rough-terrain cranes. Natarajan offers eight years of experience in the crane industry and served as director of global electrical engineering prior to departing Terex in 2011. Before returning to Terex in early September, he served as director of global engineering services.
“Both Suresh and Frank offer a wealth of crane equipment engineering and development experience for Terex Cranes,” comments Harry Bussmann, group vice president, global engineering, product management and marketing. “They are the right fit to lead our product management teams at the global level and advance our engineering expertise, responsiveness and excellence.”
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