Rail is a major means of passenger transport in Japan. The efficiency and punctuality of Japanese railroads are at a level that makes many other countries envious. For us, the Japanese rail market is essential. This is why we are very happy to announce that we have appointed our new colleague Masahiko Horiuchi as Managing Director of KONUX Japan. Horiuchi joins us from Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems Japan, for whom he had worked since 2010, and served as President and Representative Director since 2011. During his tenure, the company achieved seven sales record years within ten years, and won seven new customers (rail operators). Prior to that, Horiuchi had been with East Japan Railway Company for almost 23 years in various positions, e.g. Assistant General Manager, Rolling Stock Technology Center, Rolling Stock Design Administrator, and Assistant General Manager, Advanced Railway System Development Center, R&D Center. As one of his outstanding achievements, he led the successful development of high speed Shinkansen (275kph => 320kph) as the project leader. Horiuchi had started his professional career with Japanese National Railways in 1985; the company was split into seven private railway companies including JR East in 1987. Horiuchi holds a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering.
Asked for his motivation to join KONUX, Horiuchi underlines that he sympathized with our mission "Transform railway operations for a sustainable future". He also likes the energetic culture of our young company, which in his eyes perfectly corresponds with his own 35 year career and experience in the rail industry. In his leisure time, Hoiruchi is working as a “weekend carpenter“, currently building a small mountain shack, and – more importantly when it comes to future social events at KONUX – he is also a Karaoke champion who held the title of CKO (Chief Karaoke Officer) at his previous company!
Let’s give it up for Horiuchi and welcome him to KONUX!
KONUX is continuously expanding its international team. All open positions can be found here.
KONUX is a leading German AI scale-up, transforming railway operations for a sustainable future. The company combines Machine Learning and IIoT to deliver Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for operation, monitoring, and maintenance process automation. KONUX increases capacity, reliability, and cost-efficiency to make railway the mobility choice of tomorrow. Since its foundation in 2014, KONUX has raised more than $50 million from world-leading investors, expanded to multiple countries in Europe and Asia, and was selected by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as one of the world’s 30 most innovative start-ups and scale-ups worldwide.