It’s the vision, talent and commitment of our staff that drives the success of our company. Behind every product or solution is a team of smart, ambitious and highly motivated self-starters.
Meet usIt’s the vision, talent and commitment of our staff that drives the success of our company. Behind every product or solution is a team of smart, ambitious and highly motivated self-starters.
Meet usCritical Manufactuting’s individual founders each have 15+ years of experience as software solution providers to the semiconductor industry. Along with a group of top analysts and developers, we’ve expanded our team to service a broad range of high tech manufacturing industries.
Critical Manufacturing’s board is constituted by three directors, two non-executive representing ASMPT.
Chief Executive Officer and co-founder
Francisco Almada Lobo is recognized as a top strategic thought leader and evangelist on digital transformation, specifically Industry 4.0, manufacturing operations and the factories of the future.
He holds an MBA and an Electrical Engineering Degree from the University of Porto and started his career in a CIM R&D Institute and joined Siemens Semiconductor in 1997.
Throughout his tenures at Siemens, Infineon and Qimonda, Almada Lobo specialized in optimizing highly complex, discrete manufacturing operations. In 2004, he led the first migration of an MES system in a running high-volume facility.
Almada Lobo holds various positions within the smart manufacturing and venture capital industries, including being a Member of the 200M Fund's Investment Committee, Executive Committee Member of SEMI Smart Manufacturing Technology, Member of the Forbes Technology Council and Advisor to many Industry 4.0 startups.
ASMPT Group Strategy and Digitalization Officer
With ASMPT’s acquisition of printer specialist DEK in July 2014, Günter Lauber was appointed CEO of the company’s newly established SMT Solutions segment.
The SMT Solutions segment produces state-of-the-art printer solutions under the DEK brand name, and placement solutions under the SIPLACE brand, both of which are considered the world’s SMT equipment innovation and technology leaders. The SMT Solutions segment of ASM – with its global set-up consisting of 5 regional trading companies (Germany. EMEA, Americas, Greater China and Rest of Asia) and the 3 Product Line Innovation Centers in UK, Germany and Singapore – is focusing on supporting their global customers on their Smart Move to their Smart SMT Factory. Besides providing industry leading printers and placement machines, the SMT Solutions Segment – under Günter Lauber´s guidance – is concentrating on the key line and factory workflows in electronics manufacturing.
From 1997 to 2001, Lauber held positions as head of European sales, head of the company’s regional headquarters Europe, and finally as CEO of SIPLACE in the USA with responsibility for the company’s activities in North and South America. Since 2007, Lauber has been the CEO of ASM Assembly Systems (formerly Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems), where he successfully transitioned the SIPLACE and DEK teams to ASM Pacific Technology.
During his entire career, Lauber has been a driving force in process integration. Convinced that the tighter integration of printing, inspection and placement processes will result in more process efficiency and reliability, he feels very strongly about making improvements in data networking, which in turn will lead to better and smarter electronics manufacturing workflows in line with the Industry 4.0 concept.
Member of the board (non-executive), Managing Director & CFO, ASM SMT...
Full CVMember of the board (non-executive), Managing Director & CFO, ASM SMT Solutions
With a degree in business administration and over twenty years of experience in the fields of electronics manufacturing and renewable energies, Mike M. Möhlheinrich has worked with innovators spanning the entirety of the electronics industry, from Automotive to Smartphones, Industrial Electronics, Medical Technologies and many more. After holding leading positions at Siemens both in Germany and the USA, M. Möhlheinrich currently leads ASM’s SMT Solutions Segment in Munich as Managing Director & CFO.
Critical Manufacturing General Assembly’s President is Prof. Rui Guimarães.
General Assembly’s President
Born in Portugal in 1949, Rui Campos Guimarães is Mechanical Engineer (1971, University of Porto, Portugal), M.A. in Operational Research (1976, University of Lancaster, United Kingdom), Ph.D. in Operational Research (1981, University of Lancaster, United Kingdom) and Professor "Agregado" (1998, University of Porto, Portugal).
He made his academic career at the University of Porto, where he holds the Chair in Industrial Engineering, at the School of Engineering, since 1999.
Over his academic life, he authored and edited numerous articles and books, published both in Portugal and abroad, on Industrial Management, Operational Research, Statistics, and University Affairs. He was President of the Portuguese Operational Research Society, member of the Editorial Boards of the journals published by the Portuguese and Spanish Operational Research Societies, and member of the International Advisory Board of JORS, the journal published by the British Operational Research Society. He was promoter and first President of INEGI, an interface institute set up by the University of Porto to interact with industry in the areas of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management. At INEGI he led numerous innovation projects carried out with both Portuguese and foreign companies. He was President of the Academic Council and Dean of ISEE- EGP, the Business School of the University of Porto.
Among several non-executive posts held outside the university during his academic career, he served in the Board of Directors of INA (the Portuguese Institute for Public Administration), Público (a Portuguese reference daily paper) and Porto 2001 (the company which managed the events of Porto European Capital of Culture).
From 2003 to 2009, he was on leave from the University of Porto to act as General Director of COTEC Portugal, a not for profit organization aimed at promoting innovation, set up by 100 of the largest companies acting in Portugal, following an initiative by the President of Portugal.
Since September 2005 Prof. Rui Guimarães represents the Portuguese State at Fundação de Serralves, as a non- executive member of the Board of Directors (Fundação de Serralves is a major Portuguese foundation aimed at promoting Contemporary Art).
The Executive Management team is leading Critical Manufacturing to successfully compete worldwide in the most challenging and advanced production projects.
Vice President Engineering and co-founder
Adélio Fernandes holds a Computer Science degree and has eight years of experience in semiconductor, at Infineon and Qimonda. Has had several software development technical and leadership roles, including management of large scale manufacturing integration projects for semiconductor fabs.
Product Manager and co-founder
João Cortez holds a degree in Computer Science and he has 14 years of experience in semiconductor manufacturing companies (Texas Instruments, Samsung, Siemens, Infineon and Qimonda). He has held several senior IT architecture roles, including global manufacturing architect and solution architect for major semiconductor projects. Cortez has been the Product Manager for the Critical Manufacturing MES since the foundation of the company in 2009.
Head of Subscription Business and co-founder
Teresa Carreiro holds a Bachelor degree in Informatics Engineering. She has over in IT, working for different businesses, including 5 years of experience in Quality Management and Project Management for large scale developments for semiconductor at Infineon and Qimonda. Carreiro holds several project management related certifications, including Scrum Master.
Head of Global Sales and Business Development
Augusto Vilarinho has been working in the High Tech Industry since 1998. His strong knowledge in Information Systems for Manufacturing is complemented with field experience in leading global IT support teams and projects. Vilarinho managed projects involving multidisciplinary teams from Europe, America and Asia and became Principal and Process Innovation Manager at Infineon Technologies / Qimonda AG until 2009. Augusto holds an engineering degree in Computer Science and Systems Engineering. He is now acting as the Head of Global Sales and Business Development at Critical Manufacturing.
Head of Global Finance
Diana Macedo has been working for more than 25 years in multinational companies. During her career she had the opportunity to work in several industries such as automotive, semiconductor, and food packaging. In 2020 she moved to the services sector, having worked in the renewable energy field. In 2023 she embraced the software world by joining Critical Manufacturing as Head of Global Finance.
Her fields of expertise are finance, controlling, planning, strategic management, purchasing, shared services and continuous improvement.
Diana holds a degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from the University of Aveiro, an MBA from the University of Porto and has a specialization in Lead to Outperform from the University of St. Gallen.
Finance Director
Carla Silva holds a degree in accounting and administration from Superior Institute of Accounting and Administration of Porto (ISCAP). She works in finance and accounting since 1996, working for different businesses, including four years of controlling experience in the development center at Infineon and Qimonda.
Head of People Operations
Liliana Macedo holds a degree in Human Resources (Polytechnic of Porto) and a post-graduate degree in Applied Positive Psychology (University of Lisbon). Passionate about people, she has been working in the human resources area for the last 10 years, mainly in two different business areas: IT and Medical Devices, including an international experience. Liliana holds several People Management related certifications, including Coaching and DISC.
Managing Director of Critical Manufacturing Deutschland GmbH
Tom Bednarz has over 15 years of experience in IT Manufacturing for advanced industries. Tom started his career at Siemens Nixdorf as a software engineer in 1991, and had several engineering positions at Siemens Components and Siemens Microelectronics Center until Infineon Technologies in 1999 as manager of Data Analysis, Factory Automation and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). In 2006, Tom was appointed Director of IT Analysis Solutions at Qimonda, until he joined Q-Cells in 2009, as Director IT Manufacturing.
Vice President Sales and Business Development
Jeff Peabody, a former Applied Materials sales executive, has held senior positions in marketing and sales of factory automation solutions in semiconductor manufacturing for the last 18 years. Early in his career, Peabody drove the adoption of now commonplace systems into semiconductor factories, including: Material and Equipment Control, Advanced Process Control, Dispatching and RFID. A large portion of his career has been specifically working with MES and related modules. Most recently, Peabodyheld a senior Sales Executive position in the Global Services Group of Applied Materials, with responsibility over key global accounts. Prior to that, he served as Director of Sales and Marketing at Itemic Corporation and as Product Sales Manager for KLA-Tencor’s Process Control Group.
Vice President, Medical Device Practice
Mohamed Benkirane holds an MBA and a bachelors in international business and has over 25 years experience working with medical device manufacturers. Benkirane has participated in hundreds of project engagements with a proven ability to add business value through his vision and strategy. His experience includes helping manufacturers to discover critical business drivers and solve complex issues related to enterprise applications and plant specific initiatives. Specialties include: Enterprise manufacturing software, Business transformation, Quality and Compliance. A successful leader with great business acumen working closely with Medical Device Practitioners, including cross-functional, multinational teams, and CXO’s. Fluent in Arabic (many dialects), French, and English.
Managing Director - Critical Manufacturing China Ltd
Li Feitao's career started in the telecommunication industry, and has successively worked in process engineering, equipment engineering, engineering management and factory management. After working in the manufacturing plant for five years, Li Feitao joined Siemens China to work as after-sales service. In 2008, Li Feitao officially entered the software industry as a software product manager, and later was responsible for the software business of Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems Co., Ltd. After joining ASM, Li Feitao is still responsible for the software business, serving customers in Greater China. In 2020, Li Feitao officially joined Critical Manufacturing Software Co., Ltd. Li Feitao has a wealth of knowledge and experience in factory operations, equipment and software, and is a true expert with a combination of software and hardware.
Managing Director of Critical Manufacturing Malaysia
Weng Keong has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechatronics Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Control Systems. He started his career as a Project Engineer and worked his way up to Director of Operations and co-owner at Soft Rock Technologies. His specialties are in implementation of various manufacturing systems, such as asset, plant information system and recipe management systems, reporting system, custom production system, machine integration and tracking & tracing systems, Human Machine Interface, as well as MES. He has a wide range of industry experiences including glove, medical and industrial gas, medical and pharmaceutical, paper, plastic, solar, liquefied natural gas (LNG), cocoa processing and beverage processing.
Managing Director Critical Manufacturing Mexico
Juan De Dios Ledezma has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and master degree in business administration, an experienced IT Professional and Entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience working as Manager and CIO for the Manufacturing industry and 15 years as Entrepreneur CEO of his funded companies.
CEO / funder of Bajalogics, Tracelixn and Majjun Software in Tijuana, Mexico; San Diego and Palo Alto CA in USA from 2007 to 2023.
As founder and consultant of IT based companies, my goal is always to resolve real business challenges with the best and most advanced technological tools available, creating new tools and using the many years of experience in the field.
Industry specialties are Medical Device, Electronics and Industrial Manufacturing, Logistics and Small Business.
Deep knowledge in software products development technologies, methodologies and deployment environments, specialized in Microsoft technologies stack.
Critical Manufacturing related experience:
- Critical Manufacturing Modeler Certified Professional
- Participated as Functional Analyst in the implementation of CM MES in companies like Jabil, Ronal and Medtronic.