People

Critical Manufacturing’s board is constituted by three directors, two non-executive representing ASM PT.

Francisco Almada Lobo

Chief Executive Officer and co-founder

Francisco Almada Lobo holds an MBA and an Electrical Engineering Degree from University of Porto. He started his career in a CIM R&D institute, and joined Siemens Semiconductor in 1997. Throughout Siemens, Infineon and Qimonda, he gained experience in several manufacturing areas having, in 2004, led the first migration of an MES system in a running high-volume facility. Between 2005 and 2009, he managed the Porto Development Center for Infineon and Qimonda, with implementation of automation projects in the group plants worldwide.

Francisco acted as Chief Operating Officer of Critical Manufacturing where, among other areas, he was responsible for the Product business unit. Since 2010 he's the company's CEO.

Günter Lauber
Chairman of the board (non-executive), CEO & Executive Vice President ASMPT SMT Solutions Segment

With ASMPT’s acquisition of printer specialist DEK in July 2014, Günter Lauber was appointed CEO of the company’s newly established SMT Solutions segment.

The SMT Solutions segment produces state-of-the-art printer solutions under the DEK brand name, and placement solutions under the SIPLACE brand, both of which are considered the world’s SMT equipment innovation and technology leaders. The SMT Solutions segment of ASM – with its global set-up consisting of 5 regional trading companies (Germany. EMEA, Americas, Greater China and Rest of Asia) and the 3 Product Line Innovation Centers in UK, Germany and Singapore – is focusing on supporting their global customers on their Smart Move to their Smart SMT Factory. Besides providing industry leading printers and placement machines, the SMT Solutions Segment – under Günter Lauber´s guidance – is concentrating on the key line and factory workflows in electronics manufacturing.

From 1997 to 2001, Lauber held positions as head of European sales, head of the company’s regional headquarters Europe, and finally as CEO of SIPLACE in the USA with responsibility for the company’s activities in North and South America. Since 2007, Lauber has been the CEO of ASM Assembly Systems (formerly Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems), where he successfully transitioned the SIPLACE and DEK teams to ASM Pacific Technology.

During his entire career, Lauber has been a driving force in process integration. Convinced that the tighter integration of printing, inspection and placement processes will result in more process efficiency and reliability, he feels very strongly about making improvements in data networking, which in turn will lead to better and smarter electronics manufacturing workflows in line with the Industry 4.0 concept.

Mike M. Möhlheinrich
Member of the board (non-executive), Managing Director & CFO, ASM SMT Solutions

With a degree in business administration and over twenty years of experience in the fields of electronics manufacturing and renewable energies, Mike has worked with innovators spanning the entirety of the electronics industry, from Automotive to Smartphones, Industrial Electronics, Medical Technologies and many more. After holding leading positions at Siemens both in Germany and the USA, he now leads ASM’s SMT Solutions Segment in Munich as Managing Director & CFO. The company is currently propelling Industry 4.0 concepts to become smart manufacturing reality all over the globe.

The Advisory Board is constituted by individuals with life-time based know-how in the industry and key corporate and entrepreneurial experience in the target business markets, and they promote Critical Manufacturing’s interests by delivering strategic advice to the executive management board.

Julie Fraser
VP Research, Manufacturing Software at Tech-Clarity

Julie Fraser is a world-wide recognized expert in MES Systems. With over 30 years of experience as a manufacturing systems industry advisor, she is Founder and President of Iyno Advisors Inc.

She was researcher and writer of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) articles in the emerging days of using computers to support industrial business processes before joining AMR Research as Analyst, MES and Systems Integration expert, where she educated the market on an emerging category of plant wide applications called Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) in writing, presentations and client advisory sessions.

Julie was VP Marketing for Baan Supply Chain Solutions, Principal and analyst at Industry Directions and led the US operations for Cambashi, providing independent research and analysis on the business reasons to use IT.

Julie Fraser has been a member of MESA for nearly 20 years having received a MESA International Outstanding Contributor Award. She is MESA's former Outreach Director and was the first Chairman of the MESA Metrics Working Group.

Jean-Luc Delcuvellerie
Director of Technology Watch & Innovation Areva

Jean-Luc Delcuvellerie brings more than 20 years of knowledge and experience in Manufacturing Operations Execution (MES, LES, WMS) for process, batch and discrete industries.

He is Director of the Technology Watch & Innovation team for AREVA, where he is in charge of the Digital Innovation and Transformation program of Engineering, Field Services and Manufacturing activities.

He started his career in System Integration & Consulting at Euriware (now part of CapGemini), where he was Consultant and Project Manager from 1986 to 1998, in charge of AI and Expert System, and CIM & MES projects.

Before joining AREVA, Jean-Luc worked for 10 years for two Manufacturing Software vendors: AspenTech from 1998 to 2003 as Batch Industries Pre-sales EMEA Director and Apriso (now part of Dassault Systèmes) from 2003-2009 as EMEA Pre-Sales Director, then MES Product Director.

Jan Snoeij
President and Senior Consultant at MOM Institute

Jan Snoeij is President and Senior Consultant of the Manufacturing Operations Management Institute. As thought leader in his field, Jan specializes in education and consultancy services in manufacturing operations management. For more than 30 years, Jan has assisted companies to help improve their production and business performances by making use of information systems and other innovative technologies. He has broad experiences in many different industry sectors, varying from textiles and clothing to metals, steel and automotive and from high tech electronics to food and pharmaceuticals.

Jan holds an MS degree in Applied Physics from the Technical University of Eindhoven. Jan presented papers about a broad range of subjects related to manufacturing and business performance improvement at many industry events. He is the author of the annual MES Product Survey report, of which the 17th edition was published in September 2016.

Jan is actively involved in MESA International as member at large of the EMEA Board and approved instructor of the MESA Global Education Program. In 2007, he was awarded the MESA International Outstanding Contributor Award.

Critical Manufacturing General Assembly’s President is Prof. Rui Guimarães.

Prof. Rui Guimarães Critical Manufacturing
General Assembly’s President

Born in Portugal in 1949, Rui Campos Guimarães is Mechanical Engineer (1971, University of Porto, Portugal), M.A. in Operational Research (1976, University of Lancaster, United Kingdom), Ph.D. in Operational Research (1981, University of Lancaster, United Kingdom) and Professor "Agregado" (1998, University of Porto, Portugal).

He made his academic career at the University of Porto, where he holds the Chair in Industrial Engineering, at the School of Engineering, since 1999.

Over his academic life, he authored and edited numerous articles and books, published both in Portugal and abroad, on Industrial Management, Operational Research, Statistics, and University Affairs. He was President of the Portuguese Operational Research Society, member of the Editorial Boards of the journals published by the Portuguese and Spanish Operational Research Societies, and member of the International Advisory Board of JORS, the journal published by the British Operational Research Society. He was promoter and first President of INEGI, an interface institute set up by the University of Porto to interact with industry in the areas of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management. At INEGI he led numerous innovation projects carried out with both Portuguese and foreign companies. He was President of the Academic Council and Dean of ISEE- EGP, the Business School of the University of Porto.

Among several non-executive posts held outside the university during his academic career, he served in the Board of Directors of INA (the Portuguese Institute for Public Administration), Público (a Portuguese reference daily paper) and Porto 2001 (the company which managed the events of Porto European Capital of Culture).

From 2003 to 2009, he was on leave from the University of Porto to act as General Director of COTEC Portugal, a not for profit organization aimed at promoting innovation, set up by 100 of the largest companies acting in Portugal, following an initiative by the President of Portugal.

Since September 2005 he represents the Portuguese State at Fundação de Serralves, as a non- executive member of the Board of Directors (Fundação de Serralves is a major Portuguese foundation aimed at promoting Contemporary Art).

Jeff Peabody
VP Sales and Business Development

Jeff Peabody, a former Applied Materials sales executive, has held senior positions in marketing and sales of factory automation solutions in semiconductor manufacturing for the last 18 years. Early in his career, Mr. Peabody drove the adoption of now commonplace systems into semiconductor factories, including: Material and Equipment Control, Advanced Process Control, Dispatching and RFID. A large portion of his career has been specifically working with MES and related modules. Most recently, Jeff held a senior Sales Executive position in the Global Services Group of Applied Materials, with responsibility over key global accounts. Prior to that, he served as Director of Sales and Marketing at Itemic Corporation and as Product Sales Manager for KLA-Tencor’s Process Control Group.

Adélio Fernandes

VP Technology and co-founder

Adélio holds a Computer Science degree and has 8 years of experience in semiconductor, at Infineon and Qimonda. Has had several software development technical and leadership roles, including management of large scale manufacturing integration projects for semiconductor fabs.

Yong Wun Lau

Managing Director of Critical Manufacturing Software (SuZhou) Ltd. and co-founder

Yong Wun has a Master of Science for Controls Engineering, and 12 years of experience in semiconductor, mostly working from Asia (Singapore and China). Previous assignments range from section manager and R&D engineer, to equipment automation technical lead, to senior manager for production automation.

Tom Bednarz

Managing Director - Critical Manufacturing Deutschland GmbH

Tom Bednarz has over 15 years of experience in IT Manufacturing for advanced industries. Tom started his career at Siemens Nixdorf as a software engineer in 1991, and had several engineering positions at Siemens Components and Siemens Microelectronics Center until Infineon Technologies in 1999 as manager of Data Analysis, Factory Automation and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). In 2006, Tom was appointed Director of IT Analysis Solutions at Qimonda, until he joined Q-Cells in 2009, as Director IT Manufacturing.

João Cortez

Solutions Architect and co-founder

João holds a Computer Science degree and has 12 years of experience in semiconductor (Texas Instruments, Samsung, Infineon and Qimonda). Several senior IT architecture roles, including Manufacturing wide architect and Solution Architect for major semiconductor projects.

Teresa Carreiro

Operations Director and co-founder

Teresa holds a Bachelor degree in Informatics Engineering. She has over 15 years of experience in IT, working for different businesses, including 5 years of experience in Quality Management and Project Management for large scale developments for semiconductor at Infineon and Qimonda. Teresa holds several project management related certifications, including Scrum Master.

Augusto Vilarinho

Business Development Manager

Augusto Vilarinho has more than 14 years of experience in the High Tech Industry. His strong knowledge in Information Systems for Manufacturing is complemented with field experience in leading global IT support teams and projects. Augusto managed projects involving multidisciplinary teams from Europe, America and Asia and became Principal and Process Innovation Manager at Infineon Technologies / Qimonda AG until 2009. Augusto holds an engineer degree in Computer Science and Systems Engineering.

Carla Silva

Finance Director

Carla holds a degree in accounting and administration from Superior Institute of Accounting and Administration of Porto (ISCAP). She has over 17 years of experience in finance and accounting department, working for different businesses, including 4 years of controlling experience in development center at Infineon and Qimonda.

Chris Parsons

Vice President, Global Marketing

Chris has over 20 years of international business and marketing experience, specifically building and leading global marketing organizations in the enterprise software Industry. He has a proven track record of creating and executing successful marketing programs and delivering exceptional customer experience and engagement programs. Chris has extensive knowledge of Manufacturing Operations and Quality Management software applications and is focused on strategic programs that drive business value and contribute to sustainable growth. Chris is a UK native and studied in London. He holds a bachelor of arts degree and is chartered in marketing management.

Mohamed Benkirane

Vice President, Medical Device Practice

Mohamed holds an MBA and a bachelors in international business and has over 20 years experience working with medical device manufacturers. Mohamed has participated in hundreds of project engagements with a proven ability to add business value through his vision and strategy. His experience includes helping manufacturers to discover critical business drivers and solve complex issues related to enterprise applications and plant specific initiatives. Specialties include: Enterprise manufacturing software, Business transformation, Quality and Compliance. A successful leader with great business acumen working closely with Medical Device Practitioners, including cross-functional, multi-national teams, and CXO’s. Fluent in Arabic (many dialects), French, and English.