Senior appointments at Manitowoc

Jens Ennen has been named as Manitowoc's new senior vice president of engineering and innovation, while Kevin Blaney has taken the role of director of sales - major accounts for the North America region

Ennen will work to improve processes and engineering best practices throughout the cranes organisation, said the manufacturer.

Formally, Ennen was director of engineering for mobile cranes. He has been with Grove since 1996, working in a range of engineering and engineering management positions. Prior to joining Grove, he worked for Krupp.

Ennen will report directly to Eric Etchart, president and general manager of Manitowoc Cranes. "In addition to Jens' advanced degrees in engineering, he has a strong focus on execution, excellent product knowledge and a good relationship with our customers," said Etchart. "He is accomplished at driving product design initiatives and making a strong link with operations, quality and purchasing functions."

Ennen will be based in Wilhelmshaven, Germany until the third quarter 2012 when he will relocate to Shady Grove, Pennsylvania, USA.

Kevin Blaney will be responsible for all sales and technical support for a group of crane rental companies and contractors that Manitowoc serves direct. For the last five years, Blaney provided technical support, industry analysis and other support and training programs to the field. He is based in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, USA.

He will report to Joseph Maslizek, vice president of North American crawler and mobile hydraulic crane sales."Kevin is qualified and has extensive tenure in sales support with many of our products," said Maslizek. "By working closely with our engineering teams and our sales network, he has excellent knowledge of our cranes and our customers' needs."