Sumitomo (SHI) Demag restructures national sales leadership team in Germany

Von links nach rechts: Stefan Sonnhalter (Nord- und Westdeutschland), Armin Distler (Vertriebsleiter) und Thomas Dirnberger (Süddeutschland) / Left to right: Stefan Sonnhalter (Germany North and West), Armin Distler (Sales Director) and Thomas Dirnberger (Germany South)

Sumitomo (SHI) Demag strengthens Germany’s sales team and announces Armin Distler as director. Supporting him and managing a team of more than 13 sales colleagues are Thomas Dirnberger in South Germany and Stefan Sonnhalter covering the North and West regions.

According to Germany Trade & Invest, the domestic plastics industry counts as one of the country’s most important industry sectors. With sales of EUR 92 billion, industrial clusters and a strong investment in R&D, Germany has set a high benchmark for innovation on the world stage. Sumitomo (SHI) Demag is aligning
its business to support the entire medical, precision, automotive and packaging value chains.

Explaining the rationale for the new structure, Armin Distler comments: "Innovation underpins the success of the German plastics market. We intend to help customers leverage future innovation opportunities by drawing upon our respected technical application and automation expertise. Our ambition is to work closer
with customers to anticipate and map out their future plastic moulding requirements. This proposition and new sales structure symbolises our core advisory strengths.”

A strong advocate of integrating service support with application development, Armin has been the Sales Manager for Germany South for over three years. He joined the company in 2006, giving him a deep understanding of customers’ evolving requirements. As director, Armin will oversee all sales activities in Germany.

Thomas Dirnberger takes over sales management in Germany South. Thomas, who has strong expertise in automotive, has managed the Stuttgart area for Sumitomo (SHI) Demag since 2004.

Stefan Sonnhalter joins the company to head up sales in North and West Germany. He has more than two decades of experience in sales roles within the plastics sector and brings a fresh perspective to his new appointment.

After more than 15 years at the company, incumbent sales director for Germany, Sebastian Dombos, is leaving by mutual agreement to pursue new opportunities. Thanking Sebastian for his commitment and contribution to the success of the German business, CEO Gerd Liebig comments: “Sebastian has been an excellent steward for the company and has made a lasting impact on Sumitomo (SHI) Demag’s image and strong domestic performance in the German marketplace. We thank him for his dedication and achievements.”