ROPEX expands in South Korea and Japan

Jack Yeongwoo Lee (45) is as Country Manager at ROPEX responsible for sales expansion in South Korea and Japan. ROPEX, based in Bietigheim-Bissingen in Germany, is regarded as a leading specialist in the cutting and joining of thermoplastics. "In Japan and South Korea, with their numerous innovative machine builders and end customers, we see the greatest growth potential," says Ralph Boehlke, Managing Director at ROPEX. By actively working with local machine builders (OEMs) in these major countries for manufacturing, ROPEX aims to expand into their original equipment businesses. The end customers in both countries have very high demands as regards packaging quality.

Ralph Boehlke describes the hiring of a country manager as "the beginning of a new era", adding: "Up to now, we have worked with global partners to market our products in different regions. However, customers in South Korea prefer companies and contacts to be more locally situated and accessible." Besides that, the geographical distance, cultural differences, as well as socio-cultural peculiarities all supported the decision to hire a country manager directly in Asia for the first time.

Four weeks of further training in Germany

Jack Lee studied "International Business" in South Korea and has a profound understanding of the markets in his home country and in Japan having gained experience as Global Sales Director at an international engineering company in addition to various positions in sales divisions in South Korean engineering and construction companies.

Jack Lee has also spent four weeks in Germany both for further technical training at ROPEX and to familiarize himself with the corporate culture and colleagues. "In the technical training sessions, my colleagues in the application engineering department provided me with valuable expertise in impulse welding and the advantages it offers when compared to competing technologies such as ultrasonic welding or continuous heating," reports Lee.

In July, he started his sales work in South Korea, where he is in talks with several prospective customers though whilst remaining in close contact with application engineers in Germany to find customer-oriented solutions. "With Jack Lee, ROPEX will benefit from direct feedback and an extensive exchange of knowledge and experience. Among other numerous benefits, this will enable us to optimise our internal processes and integrate newly gained knowledge into our daily work and product development," says Axel Schneider, Managing Director of ROPEX.

In the long term, ROPEX aims to establish an independent organisation in South Korea to generate and fulfil orders for Asian customers locally, seamlessly integrating ROPEX components into the solutions offered.