HAPERT, The Netherlands—Anton Lesscher has been appointed corrugated market director at Apex International, to complete the sales management and further continue the formalization and professionalization of the Apex organization.
After his study as mechanical engineer in Holland, Anton worked in an international company where he collected his first training experience combined with a hands-on mentality. In 1991, he made his first steps into the corrugated industry, when he was appointed as process trainer at one of the leading machine manufacturers in the corrugated board industry. For the next nine years, he was involved in the startup of more than 100 corrugators worldwide. Troubleshooting on running corrugators was part of the job, as well as support in demonstrating corrugators. Anton created a training program based on the three critical disciplines of the corrugator process—process, electrical and mechanical—and the training included a staff of existing, new and operational corrugators.
The next step was to set up a self-reliant service department, and Anton became the VP of training of this business unit. A few years later, an independent daughter company was set up and Anton became CEO of this company. The target was to streamline all service and after-sales activities, and it also involved the development, training and implementation of maintenance contracts on a global scale.
Anton is delighted to return to the corrugated industry in the role of market director corrugated for Apex International, where he has the opportunity to apply all of his corrugating experience. During the past weeks, Anton has spent his time in the production facility in Hapert, watching the motivation, knowledge and craftsmanship of the staff. Furthermore, he was introduced to the corrugated industry through commercial events like the Apex Corrugated Beginners Class organized for the Benelux market (Oct. 4) and he gave sales training to the commercial staff.
“The challenge is: next level! In my opinion, Apex is ready for a next (big) step. I want to restore the relationship with the corrugated industry and bring Apex further as an unparalleled partner for products, concepts and service levels that benefit the corrugated industry,” said Anton.
From Nov. 11-13, Anton will present himself to the German corrugated market at the Technical Meeting of the VDW (German corrugated board association) at the Lufthansa Seeheim Conference Center.