First a Design Engineer, then Operations Manager and Business Unit Manager

“In the beginning, I set up machines myself and put them into operation at the customer’s premises,” says Rainer Hansjürgens, looking back. “After my mechanical engineering studies, I designed special machine tools, which then allowed me later to take over the entire department of special machine construction as Business Unit Manager.” His decades of production knowledge eventually led him to Gildemeister Drehmaschinen GmbH, a subsidiary of DMG Mori AG in Bielefeld, as Managing Director.

At home in large-scale mechanical engineering

For years, however, he has been passionate about products in an XXL format, which he got to know in Starrag’s Droop+Rein product range. “I was responsible for the global project management as Head of Production in Bielefeld from 2002 to 2005. So I come from large-scale mechanical engineering and therefore feel at home here,” says Rainer Hansjürgens happily.

The Westphalian has been in charge of the Large Parts Machining Systems (LPMS) business unit since November 2022. “In this area, everything revolves around Starrag’s commitment to large and very large machines,” explains the new LPMS head. “The business unit includes the Droop+Rein and Dörries product ranges in Bielefeld, Berthiez in St. Étienne, France, and the Large Parts Machining Systems division in Mönchengladbach.”