The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) has appointed Roy Kok as senior partnerships and alliance specialist to enhance the organization’s ever-growing global channel of industry-leading automation vendors. The popularity of the CLPA’s open industrial communication technologies, and the number of partners, has been steadily increasing year-on-year. To support this continuous expansion, the new position will strengthen the infrastructure and business value proposition for new and existing partners.

In his new role, Kok will be responsible for driving new business initiatives across North America aimed at growing participation in the CLPA . This is a key role, as the goal of the organization is the global advancement of open, interoperable information and communication technologies to support end users with state-of-the-art solutions. Kok will also help strengthen Mitsubishi Electric’s e-Factory Alliance program, where members cooperate to offer flexible, optimized automated solutions for customers across a wide variety of industries.

Kok has worked for over 30 years in industrial automation as a technical and commercial senior specialist. In his previous roles, he successfully established valuable partnerships and OEM relationships, which has provided him with a unique understanding of industry needs and vertical markets. Bringing this knowledge and experience with will benefit all companies that are members of the CLPA and e-Factory Alliance as well as their customers. 

Thomas Burke, global strategic advisor at CLPA, comments: “Roy is an outstanding addition to our team, as he brings a deep understanding of developing strategic alliances and what it takes to deliver partner success. With an impressive track record of translating strategy into tangible results, he will play a key role in growing our community and benefits to our members, delivering on a partner-first approach. Expanding the reach of our open network technologies globally is crucial to enhance the level of interconnectivity, interoperability and flexibility that the market is demanding. Roy’s drive and expertise will serve our network well as we continue to grow.”

He continues: “The business value proposition for CLPA coupled with the e-Factory Alliance initiative is to help our customers succeed in the digital transformation. Bringing Roy to the team will allow us to focus on supporting our partners in building a complete ecosystem to support the smart factories of the future. As a result, we can provide products and more importantly solutions for industrial automation.”

Kok concludes: “I am thrilled to join the CLPA and honored to help lead an organization with such an excellent reputation. The CLPA’s family of open industrial network technologies are used globally. The fourth industrial revolution is an exciting time for the association, which is addressing the needs of the future with CC-Link IE TSN, the first open industrial gigabit Ethernet with Time-Sensitive Networking capabilities. My work will help strengthen the position of the CLPA and its members as global leaders in industrial automation.”