AHEAD

As of May 15, Manuel von Varchmin takes over as Head of Sales EMEA and global responsibility for the Injection Molding Machinery division. He succeeds Sven Schewe, who is leaving KraussMaffei after five years to devote himself to new tasks. In the double interview, the sales experts talk about the successes of the past years, the current topics in the industry and the technologies of the future.

Mr. Schewe, you have been with KraussMaffei since 2018. When you look back on this time - what is your conclusion?

Sven Schewe

I am very satisfied! I have worked for KraussMaffei at a few international locations and was able to help shape sales in Latin and North America as well as in the home market of Germany and Switzerland. In all regions, we have achieved very good successes with great personalities, for example by significantly strengthening area sales in North America via a new regional structure.

The resulting responsibilities are still being successfully implemented today. This enables us to support our customers even better on site! In EMEA (the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region), we have also driven forward many great projects and, for example, relaunched the topics of subsidy and financing consulting and successfully introduced precisionMolding to the market.

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What will you take away from KraussMaffei?

Sven Schewe

A large part of how I act and think today came out of my work at KraussMaffei. I was particularly influenced by working with this great sales team. My colleagues have always impressed me because they show incredible commitment to developing the best solution with and for our customers. We have an incredibly good team that gets the maximum out of even a difficult market.

At KraussMaffei, I have also been able to master new challenges: from the consequences of the automotive crisis to the changes due to Corona to the effects of the war in Ukraine. These are experiences that no one can take away from me. These sometimes difficult moments have confirmed to me how important it is for everyone to pull together and support each other.

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Where are you heading now?

Sven Schewe

I'm not staying in the plastics industry. I'm going to the metalworking industry with a focus on automation. But I will miss KraussMaffei and especially the people very much. I wish Manuel all the best for his new job and I'm sure he will master it brilliantly!

Ahead

Mr. von Varchmin, congratulations on your new position as Director of IMM Global Sales and Area Sales EMEA! What are you most looking forward to?

Manuel von Varchmin

There are so many things! I have been working for KraussMaffei for 16 years in various sales and customer service roles. I'm looking forward to bringing the expertise and experience I've gained during this time to my new role and implementing many exciting projects together with our customers and the team - from concept to finished product.

But most of all, I'm looking forward to working with the team. As Sven said, it's an incredibly good team that presents the right solutions to our customers. At the same time, they also bring the voice of the customers to KraussMaffei so that we are always developing holistically.

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What moves your customers most at the moment?

Manuel von Varchmin

Above all, our customers value predictability and security. They need a reliable partner who guarantees them solutions of high quality and reproducibility in production. Of course, the topics of energy efficiency and material-conserving and sustainable production are also important issues on the market - both in manufacturing and in terms of the finished product. The use of recyclates is also increasing. Addressing all these issues at the same time is a challenge in which we can help our customers.

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What solutions does KraussMaffei offer?

Manuel von Varchmin

Thanks to its 185-year history, KraussMaffei has enormous knowledge and a wealth of experience across all four technologies: from injection molding technology including automation to extrusion, reaction process machinery and additive manufacturing. This enables us to supply our customers not only with individual machines, but also with customized system solutions.

Our digital solutions such as APCplus or smartOperation also ensure that, for example, the processing of recyclate and the operation of injection molding machines in particular are as intuitive and simple as possible.