The Oerlikon Group announces the consolidation of the five Textile machinery and components businesses into three Business Units (BUs) and  relocation of Textile’s headquarters to Shanghai, China.

In line with the new organizational structure, Clement Woon, an internationally experienced executive will succeed Thomas Babacan as Segment CEO on 1 January 2012. Oerlikon’s CEO, Dr. Michael Buscher, said: “We have seen strong improvement in our Textile business, resulting in record margins. With the announcement today we are positioning the Segment even closer to our largest customers, consistent with our strategy to further increase efficiency and profitability. I would like to thank Thomas Babacan for his dedication to Oerlikon and welcome Clement Woon to the company.”

Oerlikon Textile Executives, including the CEO and CFO, will relocate to Shanghai in the first quarter of 2012. By end of 2012 more than 40 % of all Textile senior management positions will be based at Oerlikon’s new office in Shanghai.

Clement Woon will be Oerlikon’s first Segment CEO based in Asia. The position of Oerlikon Group COO will be eliminated.

Profile of Clement Woon

Clement Woon (52, Singaporean) is an internationally experienced Executive. He has held leadership positions at, inter alia, Thomson Consumer Electronics and the Leica Group. In his previous position, Clement Woon served from 2008 to 2011 as President and CEO of SATS Ltd., Singapore, an airline catering and ground handling service provider with sales of CHF 1.2 billion. In this function he led the expansion of the company into the non-aviation sector, diversifying the portfolio and paving the way for sustainable development.

As the President of Geosystems Division of Leica Geosystems AG, a multinational corporation based in Switzerland, Clement Woon led the transformation of the company’s value chain to deliver cost effective high technology solutions for the Surveying industry.