Adient pick veteran exec Fleischer to lead EMEA unit

Fleischer will be tasked with increasing efficiency and productivity in Adient's EMEA markets.

Seating supplier Adient has promoted veteran executive Ingo Fleischer to head its business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In his new role as vice president seating for EMEA, the 48-year-old German industrial engineer is responsible for managing the business and production processes for complete seats, foam and trim, U.S.-based Adient said in a statement.

Furthermore, he will focus on increasing efficiency and productivity in the EMEA’s production network and building strong customer relationships with leading automakers, the company said.

Adient was spun off from Johnson Controls in 2016.

Fleischer succeeds Brian Grady, who has been appointed Adient's vice president commercial and will oversee the company's global business, marketing and development processes.

Fleischer was an Automotive News Europe Rising Star winner in 2016.

Fleischer has held numerous technical and managerial positions since joining Johnson Controls in 1997, covering roles from quality assurance and production to coordinating global product launches. As head of global specialty seating, the executive most recently managed Adient's successful development of seating solutions for commercial aircraft and commercial vehicles. Fleischer was also recently responsible for managing the Adient Recaro premium seating brand.

Fleischer will continue to manage the commercial vehicle business line, in addition to his new role, Adient said.

Adient had automotive sales of $10.8 billion in 2016 and ranked No. 11 in Automotive News Europe's listing of the Top 100 global suppliers.

You can reach David Jolley at djolley@crain.com.