Ferrostaal farewells Wintle as "depressed industry" squeezes press sales

Ferrostaal Australia and Komori specialist Gerald Wintle have parted ways as industry-wide printing press sales remain in the doldrums.

Wintle, who had been general manager of print, told ProPrint: "Business is not too good and there needed to be some decisions made.

"The industry is depressed and machinery sales are poor across the board and we had to make a choice and it was mutually agreed I should move on."

Wintle became general manager of print in 2010 after his former employer, CPI Group, sold the trans-Tasman distribution of Komori presses to Ferrostaal.

He left Ferrostaal last week, although he will remain as a consultant for the next two months.

The former general manager of print finishing, Rayne Simpson, has been promoted to general manager for the end-to-end print portfolio, comprising printing, finishing, automation and consumables.

"My previous role is currently being reviewed with the intention that we will employ an additional person in the print finishing group," Simpson said.

"More importantly, this is an opportunity to consolidate our entire sales effort under one manager."

Ferrostaal said it planned to "change the sales organisation structure to better meet the changing needs of its customers" with each salesperson to "become a single source of contact for print-related products and solutions".

Wintle told ProPrint his main achievements at Ferrostaal were working with the rest of the team to offer good customer service and to maintain the profile of the company's products.

He said he would now enjoy his first proper break in 40 years while keeping an eye out for his next role.

"Although it's a break, I don't want to disappear from the industry and I think I have a fair amount of experience to offer," he said.

Ferrostaal chief executive Markus Haefeli said Wintle had been a tremendous source of knowledge and had helped the vendor establish Komori in Australia and New Zealand.

Simpson also praised Wintle as "an instrumental part of the Komori business in Australia for more than 20 years", and said "his knowledge and experience were widely recognised by his peers and the industry".