Lydall, Inc., Manchester, CT, has initiated a realignment of responsibilities at its Charter Medical subsidiary in Winston-Salem, NC. Under this reoganization scheme, vice president, general manager Lisa Krallis-Nixon has left the company. In the interim, the Charter Medical operation will be overseen by Kevin Longe, president of Lydall Filtration/Separation, Inc., the other business in the filtration/separation group.
     David Freeman, president and CEO of Lydall, stated, “Ms. Krallis-Nixon joined the Lydall family of companies in 1985 and has made many contributions during her 20 years with the company. We thank her for all of her efforts and wish her well in future endeavors.”

Industrial and apparel fabric specialist Precision Custom Coatings LLC (PCC), Totowa, NJ, has named Gunther Hoffman marketing director, automotive division, to develop  and market new products.
     A native of Germany  and a 25-year industry veteran in the nonwovens and automotive industries, Mr. Hoffman served as former president of Hof Textiles’ North Carolina  operations for the German-based company. Prior to Hof Textiles, Mr. Hoffman was employed by Sandler AG, also based in Germany.
     “Mr. Hoffman’s role at PCC will be to bring innovative ideas and approaches to the table, thanks to his insights and valuable global relationships with automotive industry players,” said Scott Tesser, PCC  president and CEO.

Parkinson Technologies has appointed Carl Nowiszewski segment manager and business development executive, nonwovens. Mr. Nowiszewski has more than 20 years of international experience in paper and nonwovens manufacturing, mostly with The Dexter Corporation (today Ahlstrom Corporation), where he held management positions in maintenance, operations, sales and business development. “Mr. Nowiszewski adds increased focus to this important segment of our business,” said Ernest Abrahamson, president of Parkinson Technologies. “His understanding of nonwoven materials and operations, and his previous success in business growth and development will allow us to better serve our growing customer needs in this area.”

Charles Little has been named group manager of Louis P. Batson company. He will oversee the sales and marketing efforts of Batson’s capital equipment. Mr. Little has served in senior management positions at Mount Vernon Mills, Cotton Manufacturing, Inc. and Cannon Mills, Inc. His experience spans from product development and manufacturing to marketing and sales for products intended for such diverse industries as automotives, furniture, transportation, paint application and hospitality. Additionally, Bruce Kalley has been hired as service and spare parts manager. He will oversee service and spare part sales for OEM’s.

Rick Baer, executive vice president of corporate development at Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC), has retired from his duties with PCMC and will join the board of parent company Barry-Wehmiller as a shareholder representative in October. The PCMC business has been in the Baer family for three generations and was purchased by Barry-Wehmiller in October.
     Mr. Baer will also assume the responsibility of overseeing the strategy development for the PCMC line of inline flexographic printing presses. He will use his considerable market experience to focus on this key product line to develop a vision for growth that will increase the significance of this business unit to PCMC’s future.
     In addition, Mr. Baer will be involved, on a project basis, in other corporate business development initiatives of Barry-Wehmiller. He will work with other Barry-Wehmiller companies to explore product and technology synergies that will enhance PCMC’s offerings, while at the same time assessing PCMC products and technologies that may be of benefit to these companies.

Maxcess International has recently made two recruitments. In the first, Steve Chapman has been named the local representative for North Carolina and South Carolina. Mr. Chapman’s background in selling and servicing machined parts in the tooling industry, coupled with his outstanding professional sales and customer-centric track record, make him the perfect fit for replacing Mike Flannigan after his promotion. Mr. Chapman brings extensive knowledge and experience to the converting and web handling industry, with more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and technical product management. He has received extensive