September 2016
Echternach, Luxembourg – FANUC Europe Corporation, the leading supplier of CNC and robotic and factory-automation technologies, announced the appointment of Shinichi Tanzawa as the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective September 1, 2016. As president and CEO, he will have responsibility for all of the company’s European operations.
Mr. Shinichi Tanzawa will be a familiar personage to those involved in FANUC’s European activities, since he was the CFO of FANUC Robotics Europe from 1992 to 1996 and CFO of FANUC Corporation from 2000 to 2008. His extensive experience at both FANUC’s headquarters in Japan and in Europe, will greatly strengthen FANUC Europe’s organization. Shinichi Tanzawa will intensify FANUC’s direct support of its European customers by its Japanese headquarters in order to improve the competitiveness of its products and services. FANUC’s goal in Europe is further increasing customer satisfaction by strengthening its “One FANUC,” “Service First,” “GENMITSU” (strict preciseness), and “TOMEI” (transparency) value programs.
Olaf Gehrels, former president & CEO of FANUC Europe, left the company effective September 1, 2016. He began his career at FANUC in 1994 as a development engineer in its headquarters laboratories in Japan. In 2003, he was appointed president & CEO of FANUC Robotics Europe, and in 2012, president & CEO of FANUC Europe. Under his leadership, FANUC Europe generated unprecedentedly rapid profitability growth in the highly competitive European market, becoming the largest non-European supplier of automation equipment. FANUC is grateful to Olaf Gehrels for his commitment and contribution to the success of FANUC in Europe over the past years, and wishes him all the best for his future private and professional undertakings.
