Heider has been active with the company already since 1991. Also as of 1 April 2011, Hubert Thimm has taken on responsibility as Commercial Director for European sales of the Elastomer and C5 Chemicals businesses. Thimm joined Zeon Europe in 2010 and so far has served as Sales Manager German Area. Furthermore, Dr. Keith Umetsu, Technical Director, has moved his place of work to Düsseldorf. Umetsu holds a PhD in Polymer Sciences from the University of Akron, OH, USA, and has served in various positions with responsibility in the Zeon R&D centre in Kawasaki. Zeon Europe said that a major objective for the company for the future is the significant expansion of its speciality plastics business besides the elastomers business.