Yushin America Inc. announced that Michael Greenhalgh has been appointed as president of the Yushin Group’s largest overseas subsidiary. Greenhalgh, who has been with the company for 24 years, replaced his predecessor, Daichi Suzuki, effective May 1.
Greenhalgh started in Yushin America as an end-of-arm tooling manager in 2000, then he was promoted to robot group manager in 2001. Years of experience in robotic tooling and engineering later landed him the role of director of operations for Yushin America in 2006.
Greenhalgh’s appointment is so new that his badge for NPE2024 still lists him as Yushin America’s director of operations. Speaking on the floor of the trade show, he said that things are going very well for the company. “There's a ton of work right now because people are struggling to find people – machine operators, employees in any phase of their business,” Greenhalgh said.
“Functionality and ease of use are key features on Yushin robots,” he added. Because a lot of plants are hiring new people, Yushin offers training programs to help people understand how to use their robots and how to optimize their use.
He said that although Yushin is hiring, it faces some of the challenges its customers are having. It’s hard for the company to find to find the right people because of the number of technical disciplines those people have to have – candidates have to understand robotics, electrical engineering, etc. But Greenhalgh said Yushin is growing; when he started 24 years ago, he said the company had revenue of $20 million. Now, it’s at $36 million, and he’s hoping to grow that to $40 million.
He added that so far, the show at NPE2024 has been great.
Suzuki shared the change of leadership announcement in a companywide meeting, stating he is confident that Greenhalgh will ensure Yushin America’s continued success. Suzuki will continue to support the Cranston, R.I.-based provider of automation technology by serving as vice president until he returns to Japan for another role with Yushin Precision Equipment.
Karen Hanna | Senior Staff Reporter
Senior Staff Reporter Karen Hanna covers injection molding, molds and tooling, processors, workforce and other topics, and writes features including In Other Words and Problem Solved for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, Plastics Recycling and The Journal of Blow Molding. She has more than 15 years of experience in daily and magazine journalism.
