Siemens UK & Ireland has strengthened its food & beverage sector specialist team and bolstered its support for the industry with the appointment of three new executives.

The appointments are in response to a need for increased technological investment to help manufacturers in the sector thrive in a competitive global marketplace and realise the potential of integrated automation.

The three senior executives – with backgrounds ranging from technical sales to product lifecycle management – will join the food & beverage team led by Keith Thornhill and Stephen Hughes. The appointments are:

Steve Rowley, business development manager – Steve brings with him more than 25 years’ experience in service and technical sales of process instrumentation and integrated automation technologies. His main focus is on the integration of Siemens’ process instrumentation products as part of a total solution into the food & beverage industry.

Murray Blyth, account development manager – With more than 17 years’ experience in sales management & business development, focused on value solutions for efficiency and performance gains, Murray will be focused on supporting the beverage sector across Scotland and will be instrumental in helping it drive productivity levels.

Sara Nichols, account development manager – F&B – Sara is transferring from the product life cycle department of Siemens to enhance the digitisation and value solutions offered to the food & beverage sector, particularly within the brewing market.  Sara has also worked for a number of automation manufacturers and has extensive knowledge around the integration of the automation layer into various forms of Manufacturing Execution Systems.

Keith Thornhill, business manager – Food & Beverage Sector for Siemens UK & Ireland, commented: “Our dedicated food & beverage team continues to deliver expert solutions across industry. To build on this, we wanted to increase our resources to assist the market in developing greater manufacturing efficiency, productivity and flexibility with our integrated automation systems and services. Therefore, enhancing the team with process instrumentation knowledge, digital enterprise and high calibre customer-facing solutions experience is essential.  We welcome Steve, Murray and Sara to the team.”

For more information on Siemens UK & Ireland’s solutions and services for the food & beverage industry, visithttp://www.siemens.co.uk/entry/en/#product/2001110.