German Ace for Asia
Table tennis star Timo Boll becomes new face of KUKA brand
24 January, 2014
Shanghai/Augsburg, January 2014 – The Augsburg-based robot and automation company KUKA has won the German table tennis player Timo Boll as brand ambassador in China. Boll is rated among the most popular sports stars in China and will represent the brand KUKA in his second athletic home country.
„Timo Boll fits our company and the brand KUKA perfectly”, states Wilfried Eberhardt, Executive Vice President Marketing & Associations KUKA Robotics & Group, reasoning the decision for Boll. As one of the most popular representatives of his sport in Asia he signifies exactly those qualities that distinguish our KUKA robots: Speed, precision and flexibility.” The table tennis player is quite familiar with the country and its people. He has visited the country numerous times and has been living there for longer periods. In the upcoming summer, he will perform his third longer guest appearance at a Chinese club in the local SuperLeague.
KUKA equally can look back upon long-term experiences on the Chinese market. The internationally-positioned company has been present in the Asian country since the year 2000. In December 2013, KUKA opened a new production plant in Shanghai and started its production for the Asian market there. The company with its 350 employees on site can produce around 3,000 both robots of the KR QUANTEC product series and the universal controller unit KR C4 and ship them to customers from all over the Asian market.
With the new plant in China, KUKA further expands its leading market position in China and benefits from the tendency of increasing automation in Asia.
In March, KUKA will stage a great opening celebration with customers, partners and further guests inside the new factory in Shanghai. The new brand ambassador Timo Boll will be part of this event. The pro athlete looks forward to working with the Augsburg-based company: “I love technology. KUKA robots are fascinating products: fast, agile, precise and reliable. Just as good table tennis player. I am definitely ready to cope with a KUKA robot in a table tennis match.”
Timo Boll (*1981) is the most successful German table tennis player and has been among the best seven players of the world ranking list. He even ranked number one of this list temporarily and has won several international trophies. The left- handed player is known as clever tactician and is especially known in the Chinese region. His career made him visit China more than 60 times. This is why he is so comfortable with the Asian country. His current club is the German Bundesliga club Borussia Dusseldorf. Timo Boll has been awarded several times for his fair play