Mitsui Seiki USA Appoints Chairman, CEO and COO
Scott Walker, Robb Hudson, and Bill Malanche move into new positions to manage inventory mix and levels, business strategy development and implementation, and financial oversight.
Posted: April 20, 2017
As chief executive officer, he now leads all sales and marketing management functions and new and current product development.
As chief operating officer, he assumes all operational management responsibilities and oversees engineering and technical support for pre- and post-sale activities.
Mitsui Seiki USA, Inc. (Franklin Lakes, NJ) announced that Scott Walker, their long-time president, has accepted the position of chairman and will assist the executive management team in an advisory capacity as the duties transfer. Robb Hudson, their former business and technology director, has been named chief executive officer to lead all sales and marketing management functions and new and current product development. William “Bill” Malanche, their former executive vice president, has been appointed chief operating officer and assumes all operational management responsibilities and oversees engineering and technical support for pre- and post-sale activities.
Together, they will manage inventory mix and levels, business strategy development and implementation, and financial oversight. As the North American subsidiary of Mitsui Seiki Kogyo Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan), these appointments position the organization for continued future growth and cement their strong foothold in precision machining industries, such as aerospace and defense, energy and power generation, mold and die, medical and others requiring supremely accurate machine tools and collaborative applications engineering services.
Hudson joined the company in 2015 as a key account business and product development manager. He was instrumental in developing their recently introduced hybrid machining system, comprising both additive and subtractive manufacturing functionality in one precision machine tool. This system was successfully launched at IMTS 2016. Hudson has spent his entire adult life in the machine tool industry. Since the sale of his family’s Indiana-based machine tool distributorship in 2002, he gained a depth of experience in both traditional and non-traditional machining applications in the aerospace, energy, medical device, automotive and electronics industries across North America and Europe and brings that knowledge to his new role.
Malanche joined the company in 1985 as a service and applications engineer trainee. His value and contributions grew over decades as he became an important liaison with customers, vendor partners and the factory in Japan. He has also been instrumental in product development and application in manufacturing facilities all over the world. Malanche is particularly well versed in the Mexican, Central America and South American markets.
Walker personally selected these two individuals to take over the day-to-day operations. During his leadership as president since 1995, the company has successfully continued its long history in building application-specific machine tools for core competency manufacturing requirements for global OEMs and their suppliers. “These two men are more than ready to take on these leadership roles,” said Walker. “They have the knowledge, talent and acumen to continue to innovate with our longstanding customers and support them beyond all expectations. They will also attract a new generation of manufacturers to our brand and all it stands for – accuracy, precision and reliability – as we usher in the new modern era of manufacturing globally, and in North America particularly. This is an exciting time in our company’s history and I’m looking forward to standing behind these two individuals and all of our employees, supporting their efforts.”
Mitsui Seiki’s customer base is primarily comprised of OEMs and top tier suppliers in the precision and high value component industries. However, as even smaller job shops are automating and realizing the benefits of using ultra-precise vertical and horizontal machining centers, the customer mix is evolving to include advanced, smaller subcontract manufacturers as well. In addition to CNC 3-axis, 4-axis and 5-axis machining centers, the company also builds CNC jig borers, jig mills, jig grinders and ballscrew thread grinders — a category that Mitsui machines are often referred to as “mother” machines as these ultra-accurate machine tools are the foundation technologies used to make other machine tools.
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