Caterpillar France’s Eric Lepine takes over CECE presidency

Eric Lepine, general manager of Caterpillar France SAS in Grenoble, has taken over the presidency of the Committee for European Construction Equipment (CECE). Lepine replaced Johann Sailer on January 1 2014 and will serve as CECE president over the next two years. The official handover from Sailer, who himself chaired the association for two years, took place in Paris in December on the occasion of the last CECE-Steering Group meeting of the year. During his 26 years of experience in the industry, Lepin
January 15, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Eric Lepine (left) took over the presidency from Johann Sailer (right). Pic courtesy of CECE
Eric Lepine, general manager of 178 Caterpillar France SAS in Grenoble, has taken over the presidency of the 2440 Committee for European Construction Equipment (CECE).

Lepine replaced Johann Sailer on January 1 2014 and will serve as CECE president over the next two years.

The official handover from Sailer, who himself chaired the association for two years, took place in Paris in December on the occasion of the last CECE-Steering Group meeting of the year.

During his 26 years of experience in the industry, Lepine has held various important positions at Caterpillar in countries such as Belgium, Hungary, Poland, Russia, USA and UK before taking over the responsibility in Grenoble, southeastern France.

Lepine’s main goal for his presidency will be to ensure the implementation of the 10 Points listed in the CECE-CEMA Industry Manifesto, which was presented during the 2013 CECE summit in Brussels to the members of the European Parliament and the 2465 European Commission. Lepine believes that CECE should focus on three main priorities during his presidency:  achieving a harmonisation of road safety requirements for non-road mobile machinery within Europe; ensuring that industry’s needs are duly taken into account within the current revision of the exhaust emission legislation; and maintaining efforts to secure the final approval of the market surveillance legislation review, currently stuck at the European Council level. Lepine says the CECE will continue and step up dialogue with decision makers in Brussels at all levels. “We will keep on promoting the idea of fair competition and free trade for all market players in Europe. What we have to avoid is non-needed complexity in laws and regulations.”

Lepine’s deputy chairmen for the next two years are Christian Stryffeler, executive vice-president for the machine segment of 6791 Ammann AG and Giampiero Biglia, business director at CNH Industrial. The new CECE president is chief spokesman of 1,200 mainly medium-sized European construction equipment manufacturers from 14 countries. They are members of CECE via their national associations. The European construction equipment industry achieves a turnover of 25 billion Euros and employs 130,000 people.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • A global perspective on sustainable transportation systems
    August 21, 2013
    With nearly 400 participants from 21 countries and tribal nations, the recent 2013 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET) held in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, was a resounding success – writes Leonard Sielecki The five-day conference ran from June 23rd-27th 2013, and attracted transportation planners, engineers, environmentalists, and academics from national and state agencies, universities, and non-government organisations. It was organised and co-sponsored by the Center for Trans
    Read More
  • Modern road system is 'a must'
    August 2, 2012
    Australia's GDP could see a major increase if traffic bottlenecks in big cities were to be removed, and the government is addressing this as a matter of urgency A modern road system is a must in Australia where it is estimated that the removal of traffic bottlenecks could potentially raise the country's GDP by 0.8%. According to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), which made the prediction, infrastructure bottlenecks (particularly in cities, which account for over 70% of the country'
    Read More
  • China looking to export construction machines
    March 16, 2012
    Chinese firms are looking to develop overseas sales but are using very different strategies – Mike Woof reports. Aggressive expansion plans will see Chinese manufacturers boosting overseas sales in coming years. These companies are developing bigger sales profiles around the world, particularly in emergent markets such as Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. It is worth noting too that Chinese products continue to gain in terms of quality and performance. For LiuGong, Sany, Shantui, XCMG and Zoomlion
    Read More
  • Landmark ruling by European Commission says tolling existing highways is illegal
    April 25, 2012
    The European Commission has warned Portugal to change national rules on the introduction of tolling that are contrary to Community law, a decision that has widespread implications for similar schemes throughout the rest of Europe depending on how what is becoming a complex legal tangle is resolved. In November, 2010, the Aveiro municipality filed a formal complaint against the Portuguese Government to the European Commission objecting to a tolling scheme on the old SCUT highway. It argued that the system wa
    Read More

Highlighted Content