Mr Shurling to oversee Lectra business in North America

03 Nov '08

4 min read

Lectra announced the appointment of Roy Shurling as President of Lectra North America. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, and reporting directly to Lectra's CEO, Daniel Harari, Shurling will assume responsibility for all Lectra business in North America, which covers the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Following Lectra's Board of Directors' decision to change leadership in North America to address both internal challenges and those resulting from the economic conditions, Roy Shurling was appointed on August 1, 2008, in his new mission.

With more than 2,500 customers, North America revenues in 2007 were close to $50 million, representing 16% of Lectra's world revenues. Lectra currently employs 150 people in New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Montreal, and Mexico City. Lectra enjoys a strong technological advance over its historical CAD/CAM competitor, which is the result of unequalled R&D investment and a value-added services organization.

A Lectra veteran, Roy Shurling has had a successful track record of producing revenue growth and advancing business development while holding several positions of increasing responsibility for over 20 years in the Lectra group.

In his most recent position, Shurling was World Senior Vice President of Automotive and Transportation, based in Lectra's U.S. headquarters in Marietta, Georgia. Previously, as World Senior Account Director, he managed the accounts of important Lectra customers such as Boeing, Lockheed, Brunswick, Seton Leather, Johnson Controls, Autoliv, Milliken, and Delphi, as well as leading wind power companies. Until that time, he had held a number of senior positions on both the technical and sales sides of Lectra's operations in North America.

Across the years, Shurling has played a major role in the development of Lectra's activity and commercial success of the company's laser cutting technology for the manufacturing of airbags, as well as automated cutting solutions dedicated to mass production of automotive seats and interior components in replacement of traditional die-cutting systems. Thanks to his contribution, Lectra confirmed in 2007 its world leadership in the automotive market, which represented 22% of group revenues from new systems sales.

Shurling will keep his previous worldwide responsibilities in the automotive, transportation, and industrial fabrics markets during a transition period.

“In the United States, we have suffered in the past from our own weaknesses, despite the key initiatives we have taken in recent years. With Roy now in charge, we have the strong leadership necessary to drive our teams and to move forward,” said Daniel Harari. “Many U.S. brands and labels are equipped with our design solutions for fashion. The powerful, yet suffering, automotive industry will need our technologies now more than ever to succeed in their profound transformation. New management and a renewed sales culture and methodology allow Lectra to draw on the immense capacity of American companies, both in the United States and throughout the world. The leveraging effect of their influence over their sub-contractors also presents Lectra with the opportunity for a large volume of trans-national activities, across North America, through to South America, Europe, and China.”

More Lectra News... More Information Technology News - France...