Mann Named Deutz President - Brief Article

Diesel Progress North American Edition, Sept, 2000

With the retirement of Werner A. Schmitz as president of Deutz Corp., Atlanta, Ga., the NAFTA subsidiary of Germany's Deutz AG has appointed a new top management team.

Succeeding Schmitz as president of Deutz Corp. is Robert T. Mann, formerly vice president, sales. Mann joined Deutz in 1993 from Lombardini USA, where he was national sales manager. Prior to that, Mann bad been an application engineer at Lister-Diesel, Inc. Mann started his engine career in 1972 as an apprentice for R.A. Lister Ltd., at the company's Dursley, England, headquarters.

Also, as part of the management changes at Deutz, Steve Corley has been named general sales manager. Corley joined Deutz in January 2000 from Perkins Engines Inc., Novi, Mich. He joined Perkins in 1981 and Perkins Engines in 1995. Also, Larry Magera has been promoted from Great Lakes regional manager to responsibility for national accounts. Magera has been replaced by Kevin Keyes, formerly with Hatz Diesel of America, who will now become Great Lakes regional manager.

Also, Bob Maier has been named director, large engine program for Deutz Corp., based in Atlanta. Maier will be responsible for the development of Deutz medium and large engine sales. Finally, following the retirement of Franz Hurler, Mary Spurlin has been appointed national service manager.

The retirement of Schmitz marks the end of an era for Deutz. He joined Kloeckner-Humboldt-Deutz (KHD) in Cologne, Germany in 1951. Five years later he came to the U.S. as manager, administration for Diesel Energy Corp., New York, KHD's U.S. subsidiary Other than for a period of less than a year when he returned to Deutz in Germany, Schmitz spent the next 44 years in the U.S., with various corporate versions of what is now Deutz Corp.

He served as sales manager of Diesel Energy, vice president and business manager for Deutz Diesel Corp., chairman Deutz Tractor Corp., vice president and general manager of Deutz Diesel, president of Deutz Diesel and president and CEO of Deutz Corp.

Schmitz was a constant for Deutz through many years of changes in the industrial engine markets. He was a pioneer m both the marketing of small diesel engines and in the promotion of air-cooled diesel technology, neither of which were an established or accepted product or technology when his career began.

He oversaw the transformation of Deutz, which literally sold a handful of engines in the U.S. in the mid-1950s, to a company today that sells over 50,000 diesel engines annually in North America.