Sources: Topwerk America Ltd., Burlington, Ontario; CP staff
Germany’s Topwerk Group, the umbrella organization over Hess, Prinzing-Pfeiffer and SR-Schindler concrete masonry, pipe and dry or wet cast product machinery, has relocated the Topwerk America headquarters to Houston from Burlington, Ontario, and appointed Chad Rathke as president and chief executive officer, as well as SR-Schindler regional sales director. Gudrun Hess will continue as president of the newly named Topwerk Services in Burlington, a center that has supported the North American market for nearly 40 years.
Rathke arrives with broad experience in concrete batching and paver production equipment, and most recently served as director of Sales for Columbia Steel Casting Co., a Portland, Ore, manufacturer of replacement wear parts for cement production, surface mining and scrap recycling. He will focus much of his initial efforts on SR-Schindler and building the hermetic slab press brand’s footprint in North and Central America plus the Carribean.
“[Our] plants and machinery offer producers of blocks and paving stones an opportunity to create high-value and differentiating products that set their product offering and business apart,” says SR-Schindler CEO Andreas Schlemmer. “Chad Rathke’s experience in this sector and throughout the production process adds to a strong Topwerk team in the North and Central American market.”