Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) will have a new Chief Information Officer in the shape of Howard Hutchings (56). Following his IT studies in New Hampshire, U.S., Hutchings initially worked in the print media industry and finance. In 1979, he joined what was then the Harris Graphics Corporation, a manufacturer of web offset presses that Heidelberg subsequently took over. Here, he was responsible for setting up and expanding the IT infrastructure. Following the takeover by Heidelberg, Hutchings relocated to Germany in an executive position with responsibility for developing the global IT infrastructure and Internet services.

He will now take over from Michael Neff, who is to leave the company. Hutchings is married with three children.

"My primary objective is to support the company's strategic and operational objectives with cutting-edge IT organization. The aim is to ensure the competitiveness of the entire Heidelberg Group with state-of-the-art IT solutions while also further lowering costs in this sector," he states, outlining his future remit.

Heidelberg CFO Dirk Kaliebe, who is also responsible for corporate IT, has the following to add: "The IT infrastructure at Heidelberg is among the best in the world. Through systematic standardization and the introduction of SAP systems, the company has built up a global process world and thus created leaner structures. Over recent years, this strategy has enabled us to cut IT costs by around 40 percent."