German trailer and tipper OEM, Langendorf Group, part of the Wielton Group since 2017, has appointed Julia Herholz Siems as its new Managing Director.
Siems becomes the first female CEO in the Wielton Group, taking over in June 2025 from Dr Klaus P. Strautmann, who led the company for 12 years.
Prior to joining Langendorf, Siems worked for more than 23 years at market leader Schmitz Cargobull in a wide range of positions and responsibilities, most recently as the CEO Schmitz Cargobull Michalovce in Slovakia.
Siems said she took great pride in her new role, noting that Wielton Group Chairman, Paweł Szataniak, was highly committed to female management positions.
“I’m convinced that the strategy of positioning more women in leadership roles has great potential in our industry,” said Siems.
“A work environment where men and women collaborate in teams leads to better results – because entirely new ideas and approaches emerge.”
With Schmitz Cargobull in Slovakia, Siems was responsible for the entirety of the intermodal product group, at all levels of the company.
That included production in Michalovce, manufacturing of container chassis in Turkey, and business with our cooperation partners.
“This cross-functional experience not only helped me in building up the Slovak site but also showed me how vital it is to optimise interfaces and streamline processes across the entire value chain – from first contact to delivery and handover. I will now bring these experiences to my new role at Langendorf,” said Siems.
Siems said she was drawn to the role as a new challenge.
“Langendorf is a strong, traditional brand in the premium segment, but it also needs transformation – so both sides found a great match here,” she said.
“I’ve known Langendorf for its quality. That reputation, combined with the development potential, was very appealing to me.”
In her role as Managing Director, Siems said she will continue to concentrate on Langendorf’s core business interests, including production of premium quality trailers, high-tech products and customer service.
This will include growing market share of its primary products, including its inloaders, offered as the ‘Flatliner’ for transporting precast concrete components; the ‘Floatliner’ for flat glass transport; and the double-deck ‘Flexliner’ inloader.
Siems said the goal was to sell 400 or more inloaders annually, across all three product lines.
Another important focus for Langendorf’s new MD will be growing the use of its latest innovation – the extendable platform semi-trailer, often coupled with concrete inloaders for use in infrastructure projects.
Siems will also look at ways to ameliorate Langendorf’s largest segment of tippers and low loaders.
“The market has been under a lot of pressure over the past three years, but where there’s pressure, there are also opportunities,” said Siems.
“We need to reduce costs and make our processes more efficient.
“Through the capabilities of the Wielton Group we’ve established a site in Poland that allows us to manufacture core components at optimal cost while maintaining consistent quality.”
Under Siems’ stewardship, Langendorf will see management level restructuring, particularly in service.
“With Tobias Schlüter as Managing Director, we’ve gained a new colleague for Langendorf Service at the beginning of the year to pursue this goal,” said Siems.
“Our shared approach is to support customers professionally throughout the entire lifecycle of their vehicle—even after delivery. This is a key part of our premium brand promise.”
The company will also strive to comprehensively support customers of all Wielton Group brands.
In terms of sales and market growth, Siems has earmarked Langendorf’s core Western Europe market as a target field, as well as seeking opportunities to strengthen the brand in Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as the UK.
The newly installed Langendorf MD said the company would focus on three core areas -strengthening sales (short term), achieving cost efficiency in operations, and redefining the Group’s overall strategy.
“We are in a tense market environment,” she said.
“Our company must adapt to this situation, and the establishment of the site in Poland was already a step in the right direction.
“We will closely monitor how the market develops and determine whether and how we expand our product portfolio accordingly.
“We will always pursue this with the goal of delivering premium products of the highest quality and with attractive delivery times.”