Introduction of Eugen Holzknecht

After graduating from the University Mannheim in Germany in 1967 I joined Deere & Company in Mannheim. After initially working in the IT department, I moved very quickly into a sales function with various assignments in Mannheim, Moline, Athens and finally Brussels. I moved back to Germany in 1978 to become the general manager for Central Europe for an American building supply company. Finally, in 1983 I got my first taste of the surface finishing and surface preparation world by joining Wheelabrator-Berger, the German subsidiary of Wheelabrator Corporation, as their general manager. At that time Wheelabrator-Berger was one of the leading European manufacturers of shot blast equipment. When I joined the Carl Kurt Walther Company in 1986 to become the general manager of its Walther Trowal division, I became totally hooked on vibratory finishing and shot blasting. Ever since that time until my retirement in 2009 I worked in this field and loved every minute of it. At Walther Trowal we underwent several frustrating ownership changes. For this reason, when in 2003 Rösler was looking for somebody to manage their US subsidiary, Rösler Metal Finishing USA, I did not hesitate to undertake this assignment from which I retired in 2009. Since then I have worked on a few special assignments for Rösler. My wife Rosemarie and I live in Kalamazoo, Michigan. And, apart from my first love, namely working in surface finishing and surface preparation, I enjoy gardening, golf and developing my own website."