Beckhoff Automation announces new president of U.S. subsidiary

February 15, 2019 – Beckhoff Automation has appointed Kevin Barker as the new president of Beckhoff Automation LLC to manage business operations across the U.S.

Barker takes over the leadership role that Aurelio Banda has held for four years. Banda led Beckhoff’s revenue growth and business developments, finishing fiscal year 2018 with nearly $80 million in U.S. sales, new field offices and more employees than ever.

As the new president, Barker will oversee all sales, engineering, marketing and administrative operations from the headquarters of Beckhoff Automation LLC in Savage, Minnesota, near Minneapolis. This location also houses the main technical support hub and warehouse for Beckhoff customers in the U.S. Prior to joining Beckhoff, Barker worked at Yaskawa America, Inc. as the director of sales in the company’s motion division.

“As a proven manager of large, cross-functional teams and an esteemed expert on motion control, EtherCAT and general automation technologies, Kevin Barker is well prepared to guide Beckhoff Automation LLC to the next phase of business development,” says Hans Beckhoff, managing director and founder of Beckhoff Automation. 

Over an eight-year tenure at Yaskawa, Barker led multi-national sales teams with the responsibility to develop complex industrial markets, large sales channels and advanced motion control offerings, including the company’s lineup of EtherCAT servo drives. Barker, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Illinois Wesleyan University, also held director-level positions at Mitsubishi Electric Automation and Omron Electronics earlier in his career.

According to Barker, the prospects for developing the market in general automation technology and a rapidly evolving portfolio of motion control solutions were major factors in his decision to join Beckhoff Automation and lead the subsidiary into a new era.

“I have dedicated my entire career to helping machine builders, manufacturers and other high-tech companies succeed on a global scale with leading-edge automation technologies. Beckhoff Automation is the logical progression of my journey and an exciting new chapter,” Barker says.