Brendan Brett

Big Joe - United States

Big Joe has hired Brendan Brett as director of strategic partnerships for its autonomous division. 

Brett is charged fostering collaborations within the material handling industry to help develop autonomous vehicles.

“The global pandemic accelerated the need and uptake of autonomous vehicles, paving the way for the materials handling industry to become educated on how simple yet effective solutions could be every day, not just to solve its pain points during a crisis,” Brett says. 

“I look forward to helping provide growth and development opportunities for our current fleet as well as adding additional options for our customers as we continue to focus on innovation and automation.”

Brett studied Supply Chain Management and Information Systems at Pennsylvania State University and has 15 years of supply chain operations, including at Nestle.

Tim Rolfe

Logistics UK - United Kingdom

Logistics UK has named Tim Rolfe as director of human resources. 

Rolfe, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), has more than 25 years of experience in senior HR roles, as well as running his own independent HR consulting business since 2020. 

Logistics UK chief executive David Wells says: “We are delighted to welcome Tim to Logistics UK. Responsible for the HR function across the business, his extensive knowledge and wealth of experience will be a great asset to the company.” 

Rolfe says: “I’m looking forward to contributing the executive team and continuing the development of the HR function to provide valuable support to our employees while they help us to do more for our members.”  

Otmar Kaup

Kaup GmbH - Germany

Kaup founder and materials handling technology pioneer Otmar Kaup celebrated his 95th birthday on 25 September.

The trained blacksmith and qualified engineer founded Kaup in 1962. It is now the world's largest independent manufacturer of forklift attachments.

In a statement, Kaup says the company founder "continues to sparkle with ideas" and still works at the company several hours every day.

While working as a designer at the company now known as Linde Material Handling, Kaup was significantly involved in the development of the first hydrostatically driven forklift, the Hubtrac.

As the pallet principle was becoming more and more important at the time, Kaup saw the opportunity to set up his own company. Starting with five employees, today Kaup has about 900 employees worldwide.

Kaup has received numerous honours and awards, including the Citizen's Medal of the City of Aschaffenburg in 2005, the VDI Badge of Honour (2000) and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1998.