Groeneveld Group is re-engineering its North American operations to support its customers and distributors even better. The company has announced to divide its North American operations into separate Sales & Service Divisions for Canada and the Unites States, while a dedicated Logistics Operations is being established in Milton, Canada, to support the sales and service activities in North America. With a dedicated organization and a great product offering for a wide variety of applications, for trucks and trailers as well as for off-road equipment, Groeneveld is determined to substantially grow in the North American market in the next couple of years.
Groeneveld Group, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is headquartered in Gorinchem, the Netherlands (NL) and has its own production facilities in Italy and Israel. The Groeneveld Group has been active in the development, production, marketing and sales of innovative products and services for efficiency and safety in transport, earthmoving and construction, railway, agriculture and industry for 40 years. The company has its own sales and service locations in Europe, North and South America, Morocco, South Africa, India, China, Australia and New Zealand. Additionally, independent dealers and importers represent the company in various countries. Overall, Groeneveld is active in over thirty countries. The company is geared up to further boost its presence in the Canadian and US-markets, for which it is reshaping its organization, while also planning to enhance the number of dealers, distributors and installers.
Preparing for growth
"With our broad range of quality-leading products, including the superior singleLine automatic greasing systems for trucks and trailers, well-proven progressive greasing systems and the unique dual-line Twin 3 system for all kind of heavy duty applications, Groeneveld is able to offer exactly the right automatic greasing solution for each and every application in on- and off-road,” says Ron den Engelsen, member of the Board of Management of Groeneveld Group and responsible for Marketing, Sales and Business Development.
“We have established a strong position in many countries around the world and - based on our strong product and services offering - we see great opportunities to expand in North America”, he declares.
To support a substantial growth of Groeneveld in North America, the existing headquarters in Milton, Canada, will become the center for all logistical operations for North America, while also becoming the commercial headquarters for Canada. The Groeneveld branch in Brunswick, Ohio, will be turned into the Sales & Service headquarters for the United States.
Management appointments
To support the transition from the current organization with one headquarters for North America, into dedicated sales & service organizations for Canada and the United States and a logistics center in Milton, Canada, a number of management appointments have been announced.
Gail Wilson, CFO for Groeneveld North America since August 2006, has been appointed Managing Director a.i. for Groeneveld Logistics Operations in Milton, in addition to her responsibilities as CFO for Groeneveld’s total North American operations.
Theo Knijf, working for Groeneveld for 20 years, has been appointed to head the company’s organization in the Unites States in the period of transition.
Wim Zieleman has been assigned the same responsibility for Canada. He is with Groeneveld Group for 14 years and has a broad experience in the field of automatic greasing, oil management and safety systems.
Michael Womble, who joined Groeneveld United States early 2010, has been assigned to head the national sales organization in the USA.
In addition Mike Nieson, based in the Milton facility, has been appointed National Service Manager for Canada, while Todd Amos, based in Brunswick, has been given the same responsibility for the Groeneveld organization in the Unites States.
Regional management
The existing Groeneveld branches in Canada and the United States will focus more on regional sales and service activities, while the geographical spread of the company will be enhanced by appointing additional regional sales managers, as well as independent dealers and distributors. In anticipation to the projected further growth, Groeneveld will also significantly grow the number of Customer Support Technicians throughout North America.
“We have an industry-leading product offering, which is being appreciated by customers all over the world and supplied to great companies like Caterpillar, Volvo CE, JCB and Komatsu for ex-factory first fit, as well as for the aftermarket. And while over the years we have established a good position in the North American truck, trailer, bus, coach and off-road market, we see great opportunities to substantially grow our position in both Canada and the United States. Our new organizational model will bring Groeneveld even closer to the market, closer to our customers, in order to offer the best solutions for automatic greasing, oil management and active safety systems”, concludes Ron den Engelsen.
