Continuity with change

The global CLARK family is mourning Egon Strehl. The Managing Director of CLARK Europe GmbH, who died on 26th January 2014 at the age of 58 after a severe illness. The management of CLARK Europe GmbH is now in the hands of a dual leadership: SS Baik from the parent company Young An, CEO and President of CLARK Material Handling International, as CEO, and Rolf Eiten, Director of Sales & Marketing at CLARK Europe GmbH, as COO, will lead the traditional brand of CLARK into the future from the new headquarters in Duisburg.

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CEO SS Baik, Head of the global CLARK Organisation, speaks of the death of Egon Strehl: “We are struggling to keep our composure and are mourning a good friend, a great expert of the forklift scene and Clarkian through and through." Since 2004, Egon Strehl played a significant part in the development of CLARK Europe GmbH (responsible for the regions of Europe, the Middle East and Africa), he built up a solid company structure and an extensive sales network with 170 dealers in 58 states. Rolf Eiten, who has already been in charge of the operative business of CLARK Europe GmbH since July 2013 as COO adds: "We remember him as a human being and as an expert. Our deepest sympathies and commiserations go to his family."

CEO SS Baik does not see the daily business of CLARK Europe GmbH as being restricted by the death of Egon Strehl: "Also, and especially thanks to the tireless commitment of Egon Strehl, CLARK Europe GmbH has kept up in terms of organisation with its growth and is now very well established. With Rolf Eiten at the head of the team of 60 on site, we can now start a new chapter in the company history of CLARK at the new headquarters in Duisburg. This is undoubtedly in accordance with the wishes of Egon Strehl, the more so as continuity internally as well as in the collaboration with dealers, end customers and partners have the highest priority. CLARK Europe GmbH is firmly embedded in the network of all twelve CLARK subsidiaries globally and can be certain of the full support of the parent company Young An."

The new headquarters of CLARK Europe GmbH in Duisburg, CLARK moved into at the beginning of February 2014, offer new infrastructural opportunities for employees, workshop, assembly plant, training centre, new equipment and spare parts storage. The existing property built in the Businesspark Niederrhein (Asterlagen) in 1997 – situated almost 15 kilometres west of the current site in Mülheim and der Ruhr – has almost 15,000 m² of working area, 5,300 m² of which is built on. "Along with the administrative facilities, we are firstly going to accommodate the workshop plant for pre-delivery inspections and modifications at the Duisburg site", explains Rolf Eiten, "we are continuing to organise our European spare parts store here and stock up on new machines. A big advantage of the new premises is the space for training courses and workshops. After all, we now have a separate training centre, which permits full concentration on the apprenticeship and in-service training of our salespeople and service technicians outside of day-to-day business."

The CKD assembly plant (Completely Knocked Down) with a focus on electric machines for the European market is expected to be launched in June 2015 in the new European headquarters of CLARK Europe GmbH. This will mean that CLARK then operates 5 factories worldwide (USA, Mexico, Germany, China and South Korea). SS Baik: "We see the investment in the new headquarters and the construction of the new plant as a clear site commitment, which offers CLARK dealers and end customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa the relevant future and hence planning security." An advantage is the transport connection of the headquarters in Duisburg at the intersection of the Rhine route and the Ruhr area: The A40 motorway, the international airport of Düsseldorf and container port of Duisburg are in the immediate proximity of the Businesspark Niederrhein.