New Executive Director at Frauscher North America

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Effective January 1st, 2021, I am pleased and honored to assume the responsibilities of Executive Director for Frauscher North America from Vivek Caroli, as he moves on to pursue other endeavors. Vivek has been our driving force since Frauscher ventured into the North American market in 2015, and I look forward with optimism and excitement to continuing and expanding upon the success our team has achieved to date.

Although Frauscher Sensortechnik Austria has existed for over 30 years, when the US office opened in Princeton NJ in 2015, Frauscher North America was no more than a small, unknown start-up venture. Track circuits were the 100% accepted and utilized technology for train detection, and we were met with strong resistance to the use and acceptance of axle counters.

In spite of this, Frauscher has been able to make a significant impact in North America, opening many eyes to the benefits of a technology that had once been considered unacceptable. Learning the requirements and concerns of the railroads, engineering companies, signaling integrators and OEMs has provided many successful opportunities to provide solutions that meet safety, reliability and operational requirements.

My personal history with Frauscher began in Austria in 2010 as a temporary worker, bridging time between college and civilian service which is a common path for students in Austria. I rejoined Frauscher in the Customer Service department in 2011 and was eventually promoted to Customer Service Manager in 2014, a position I retained until 2018. This position provided me with significant international exposure and experience. During this time, I juggled full time work with school, attending the University of Applied Sciences in Wels, AT. I obtained my Bachelor of Science degree in Mechatronics and Business Management in 2015.

In 2018 I was given the opportunity to become Director of Operations for Frauscher North America, and subsequently relocated to Toronto to assume my responsibilities. I have been privileged to witness and contribute to the growing success of this once small startup, that currently employs a diverse and talented staff of 15. I have learned a great deal during the time I have worked in the North American marketplace, and my experiences have prepared me well for the exciting challenges of the Executive Director position.

CEO Michael Thiel comments:

„It is a great pleasure to observe how our organisation produces such young, qualified and motivated leaders. I have known Michael since he started at Frauscher. Wherever he has been deployed, he firmly convinced us of his leadership qualities, with an above-average level of commitment and respectful treatment of customers and colleagues. I wish Michael all the best and am sure he will drive forward with the successful development and positioning of Frauscher North America together with his team."

Main goals of Frauscher USA

Moving forward under my stewardship, Frauscher North America’s main goals will continue to be the further expansion of our market presence, and to continue serving our customers to the fullest. In the coming months and years our strategic goals will include:

Increase engineering and sales presence in North America
Increase our vital train detection installations in the transit, metro and LRT sectors
Expand our present position in the market to further include applications in grade crossing warning systems and yard automation
Design and provide solutions that increase safety in dark territory, where the use of conventional signaling technology presents significant challenges
Embrace the growing need for integrated solutions, where our products have shown to play a key role. This will be accomplished by expanding our collaboration with industry partners to provide complete solutions.
By meeting these goals, we hope to increase our business to the point where we can support the manufacture of products locally in the United States

Along with my team, I look with optimism to the future. Frauscher is poised and well suited to continue building upon the level of growth that has already been achieved. The foundation that has been built over the last five years, along with the rapidly growing level of acceptance that now exists for our axle counting technology, has opened the door to a level of growth that will increase exponentially over the next five years!

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Michael Parzer

Michael Parzer began his career at Frauscher with a three-month internship program in the production department. Thereafter, he accepted a permanent position with Frauscher in Customer Service. In April 2014, he was promoted to Customer Service...

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