Packaging automation integrator Foodmach has appointed Chris Yule its new national sales manager.

The position was created when CEO Earle Roberts was promoted from Chief Customer Officer 12 months ago.

Yule will lead a team of six sales and technical support engineers focused on Foodmach’s core offerings across Australia. The team will work alongside Foodmach’s technology products and international sales teams.

“Chris’s experience across the entire spectrum of engineering roles within the business make him exceptionally well-qualified to lead the sales team,” Roberts says.

“His enthusiasm and passion for engineering and innovation and strong technical understanding of Foodmach’s core offerings, combined with a service-driven approach, will drive our sales team’s expertise and strengthen key customer relationships.”

Previously Foodmach’s national sales engineer, Yule joined the company in 2003 as a design draftsperson after completing his studies in mechanical engineering at Swinburne.

For the next five years, Yule held numerous roles within Foodmach’s engineering department. He then enjoyed a four-year career break in Europe and Canada before returning to the fold, joining the sales department in 2014.

“People are the reason I returned to Foodmach; both the staff and our customers,” Yule says.

“Spending time overseas gave me an even greater appreciation of Foodmach’s positive work culture and the exciting partnerships we have with our FMCG and industrial customers.”

Yule was a part of the Foodmach engineering and 3D modelling team that developed the early Robomatrix High Speed Palletisers, an award-winning design for user-friendly pallet automation. The innovation was driven by customer challenges.

Now, Yule is looking forward to further enhancing Foodmach’s range of products and services to support its customers and the wider market.

“Australia’s producers will have enough challenges on their hands for the foreseeable future,” he says.

“If we can relieve them of their factory automation concerns by streamlining operations and increasing productivity, it’s just one less thing they have to worry about.”