FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lectra Appoints Bertrand Crönert as Manufacturing Marketing Director
His priority will be to accelerate market penetration of Lectra's innovative solutions for the Lean cutting room
Paris, March 22, 2012 - Lectra, the world leader in integrated technology solutions dedicated to industries using soft materials-textiles, leather, industrial fabrics and composites-is pleased to announce the appointment of Bertrand Crönert as Manufacturing Marketing Director.
Based at the Paris headquarters and reporting directly to Daniel Harari, Lectra CEO, Bertrand Crönert aims to reinforce Lectra's leadership as a long-standing partner of the fashion, automotive, aeronautical and furniture industries, in the overall optimization of their production processes. Lectra's cutting room solutions, the reference for the most demanding companies, guarantee maximum return on investment and the lowest total cost of ownership. Lectra's cutters are extremely powerful, with an availability rate near 98%-even when used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week-a record unparalleled in the industry.
"Thanks to its experience with major companies in the automotive industry, Lectra has developed in-depth knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, which benefits our production solutions. Our teams have integrated Lean fundamentals into our technologies-improving usage time, detecting and resolving malfunctions, eliminating superfluous tasks, eradicating quality failures-that can be easily applied to other sectors, fashion in particular, with its continuous collections and just-in-time production," said Daniel Harari, Lectra CEO. "Bertrand's mission is at the heart of Lectra's strategy which aims to provide long-term support to leading companies in implementing their Lean approach, and Bertrand, with his long experience of complex technological projects acquired in the automotive and energy industries, will allow Lectra to enter a new phase."
The appointment of Bertrand Crönert is part of the plan to reinforce sales and marketing teams worldwide, as well as that of seeking sustained R&D investments, which will allow Lectra to support its customers in post-crisis challenges.
"I am pleased to join Lectra, whose strength lies in knowing how to anticipate changes in its markets and in developing close collaboration with state-of-the art players to design and perfect tomorrow's solutions. With the involvement of all its teams, R&D, marketing and sales, we will capitalize on Lectra's integrated solutions for fabric and leather, unsurpassed in the marketplace, as well as on its high value-creating services, to allow our customers to become more competitive and more profitable in a world economic climate that is highly competitive," said Bertrand Crönert.
Lectra: the most advanced cutting room solutions on the market
Lectra offers its customers a new range of revolutionary solutions for leather, Versalis®, the result of fifteen years of experience working with leading leather specialists. They offer players in the fashion, automotive and furniture industries an unrivaled level of productivity and highly significant material savings, up to 10%, a performance that is even more remarkable given that the constantly rising price of leather is a major factor in production costs.
Its onboard intelligence gives Vector®, Lectra's flagship range of automated fabric cutters a unique place on the market, making it the most widely sold system worldwide. Lectra estimates that more than one in every four fabric cutters sold worldwide is a Vector. These cutting solutions provide the flexibility necessary to respond to the diversification of demands and the fluctuation in the number of models and references from contractors.
Meanwhile, the Focus® range is used by the vast majority of airbag manufacturers around the world and has captured nearly 70% of market share.
The Vector® and Focus® Airbag ranges in particular are the reason for Lectra's strong growth in the automotive market, up by 64% in 2011 compared to 2010.
Bertrand Crönert began his career in 1987 with SKF Group, world leader in mechanical bearings. While there, his different responsibilities included sales and marketing, and, in particular, he landed a major contract with General Motors US. In 1994 he joined Valeo as marketing director in the heat exchanger division, then became the condenser product line (P&L) director, where he was in charge of launching new breakthrough technologies. He was then promoted to Product Marketing Director of the Climate Control Branch, responsible for defining and deploying worldwide product strategy, handling strategic alliances and the innovative positioning of B2B2C passenger comfort solutions. In 2006, he joined Areva T&D as world Marketing Director for Business Unit Automation. As of 2010, he performed similar responsibilities at Alstom Grid, arising from Areva T&D's sale of high voltage services.
Bertrand Crönert graduated as an Engineer from the Ecole de Mines and holds an MBA from EDHEC.
® Focus, Vector, and Versalis are registered trademarks of Lectra.
About Lectra
Lectra is the world leader in integrated technology solutions that automate, streamline and accelerate product design, development and manufacturing processes for industries using soft materials. Lectra develops the most advanced specialized software and cutting systems and provides associated services to a broad array of markets including fashion (apparel, accessories, footwear), automotive (car seats and interiors, airbags), furniture, as well as a wide variety of other market sectors, such as aeronautical and marine industries, wind power, and personal protective equipment. Lectra serves 23,000 customers in more than 100 countries with 1,350 employees and $287 million in 2011 revenues. The company is listed on NYSE Euronext.
For more information, please visit www.lectra.com
Contact - Lectra Headquarters / Press Dept.: Nathalie Fournier-Christol
E-mail: n.fournier-christol@lectra.com
Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 64 42 37 - Fax: +33 (0)1 53 64 43 40
