Management Team

European President

Helge Puhlmann has been European President of YAMAICHI ELECTRONICS since 2001. He handles all management responsibilities regarding the European market. Helge Puhlmann is the founder and one of the managing directors of the predecessor company from which YAMAICHI ELECTRONICS Germany emerged in 1992. In the first years, his main tasks included building up long-term relationships with key accounts, establishing various European subsidiaries, setting up the European design center and putting together a strong management team. In the past years, he focused on the establishment of an independent production in Europe as well as the definition of the future product strategy.

Managing Director

Yasuhiro Urata has 30 years of working experience in the telecommunications and global business. He worked at 9 overseas subsidiaries in the fields of corporate strategy, financial management, business development and reevaluation of corporate value. He completed DD and acquisition for 3 overseas companies and reviewed full DD for 2 huge no-go projects.

European Strategic Director

As European Strategic Director at YAMAICHI ELECTRONICS, Christoph Prem is responsible for the strategic direction of the company in Europe. Previously, as Sales and Marketing Director from 2007, he was responsible for all sales activities in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, including the distribution business, as well as for all marketing activities. Prior to this role, he worked as Head of Connector Solutions and Market Manager for Wireless Communications, a position he held when he joined YAMAICHI ELECTRONICS in 2004.

Human Resources & Administration Director

Verena Remppis has been Human Resources & Administration Director at YAMAICHI ELECTRONICS since 2007. In this position she is responsible for human resources, finance and logistics. Prior to this pos she was head of the Human Resources Department. She joined YAMAICHI ELECTRONICS in 2001 as an employee in the personnel department.

Engineering Manager

Michael Quiter has been Engineering Manager at YAMAICHI ELECTRONICS since 2004.
He is responsible for all research and development activities within Europe.
Among other things, he played a key role in the establishment of the design centre in Tunisia and in setting up an internal test laboratory and facilities for electronic and mechanical simulation. He also introduced IATF16949 into the development process.

Sales & Marketing Manager

Manuela Gutmann has been with YAMAICHI ELECTRONICS since 2004. In 2007 she took over responsibility as Division Manager Connector Solutions and in this role was responsible for the strategic direction as well as product and project management. In addition, she now manages the European sales organization including marketing as well as the Connector Solutions and Test Solutions divisions. She is also active as an expert in national and international standardization committees and represents Yamaichi Electronics in various trade associations.

Division Manager Test Solutions

Thomas Rein has been Division Manager for Test Solutions at YAMAICHI ELECTRONICS since 2001. In this position, he works on the expansion of the business unit and coordinates product and project management.
He was a leading member during the setup of the European manufacturing plant and as interims manager, he supervised the engineering team for six months.

Plant Manager

Martin Heinhold took over the position of Plant Manager for the Yamaichi sites in Germany and Tunisia in July 2025.

In this role, he has overall responsibility for the areas of supply chain, production, quality and manufacturing technology.
With over 30 years of international professional experience in various branches of the manufacturing industry, Martin Heinhold has strong leadership skills. His professional career is characterized by a consistent focus on operational excellence and in-depth expertise in lean manufacturing.

Technical Production Manager

Christian Fritzsche has been working at Yamaichi Electronics since 2012. He started as a production engineer and was initially responsible for the cable assemblies. Just one year later, he took over responsibility for circular connectors (M12 and push-pull). When the decision was made in 2017 to build a new production facility in Frankfurt (Oder), he contributed his experience to the planning of the new location. In 2018, he was appointed head of the Production Engineering department and in 2021 he took over the management of the facility as Technical Production Manager in dual leadership with Patrick Herrmann.