Joel Thielen

– Maruho Machinery Solutions (MMS) – the U.S. subsidiary of Maruho Hatsujyo Kogyo Co. Ltd, a Japanese company with subsidiaries in Asia and the U.S. – has promoted longtime sales manager Tomoki Kishi to the position of General Manager. Moving forward, Mr. Kishi will oversee all U.S. operations for the prominent blister packaging machinery supplier. MMS also has bolstered its market outreach initiatives by adding Joel Thielen as a Business Development Representative. Both executives will be based in MMS’s Erie, Colorado location.   

Mr. Kishi brings well over a decade of blister machinery sales experience to his new role. Most recently, he served as a sales manager at Maruho Machinery Solutions, a subsidiary of Maruho Hatsujyo Kogyo, where he focused on expanding U.S. market share for the company’s portfolio of high-quality, cost-competitive blister packaging equipment. Earlier in his career, he worked for 13 years in blister packaging machinery sales, executing the successful sales of more than 50 units to various pharmaceutical companies and consumer product manufacturers.

Mr. Thielen will be responsible for a wide range of day-to-day sales activities, including existing and potential customer engagement, market research, liaising with MMS’s dedicated equipment engineering team, and participating in trade shows and other industry events.

Tomoki Kishi

“As our newest General Manager, Tomoki brings extensive experience with all stages of the blister packaging machinery sales process – from initial consultation and product recommendation to installation and post-sales support – and has a proven track record of establishing and maintaining long-term client relationships,” said Yuji Abe, CEO for Maruho Hatsujyo Group US. “Meanwhile, Joel will make a terrific addition to our growing sales force as we continue to gain market prominence in North America.”

Among the latest MMS machines that Mr. Tomoki and Mr. Thielen will promote is the Eagle-LP. Short “Lab Pack,” the unit joins the company’s extensive blister packaging equipment family as a reliable, cost-effective solution for various concepting and development stages and initial small-batch production.

At a time when many pharma manufacturers have faced challenges finding blister units for stability testing, clinical trials and small batch runs that aren’t onerously expensive and unnecessarily lengthy or bulky, the modestly priced Eagle-LP measures just 1.8 meters in both length and height, and just .9 meters in width. Importantly, the module is designed to accommodate a newer generation of more sustainable blister film substrates – ones that are typically more difficult to form and seal. The unit can easily accommodate PVC, PVDC, PET, ACLAR, ALU and PP.