Getrag Ford Transmissions, a joint venture between Ford and the Germany’s Getrag, has named Sue Slaughter (photo above) as its chief operating officer. Slaughter, 45, takes up the role on January 1 and succeeds Kevin O’Neill, who is retiring.

UK-born Slaughter joined Ford in 1987 and has held various senior management positions within purchasing at the automaker.

“I am very pleased to welcome Sue to this position. She brings extensive leadership experience in cross functional structures to Getrag Ford Transmissions,” Getrag CEO Mihir Kotecha said in a statement.

As part of a wider shuffle of senior management at Getrag, the supplier also announced a change at the top in its key Asia market. YoungHo Lee, 55, formerly executive vice president of purchasing, will take on the role of CEO at Getrag Asia Pacific, with responsibility for the key China market. Getrag says it expects to gain 50 percent of its overall global business in Asia by 2020.

Gordon Spaulding, former CEO of both Getrag Asia and Getrag Jiangxi Transmission Co. Ltd., will now run GJT, the supplier’s biggest Chinese joint venture.

John McDonald, 58, formerly executive vice president of manufacturing at Getrag, has been appointed to chief operating officer at Getrag. The newly created role consolidates the departments of manufacturing and purchasing, Getrag said in the statement.

“Production and delivery of products to customers can [now] be executed with smoother processes and a broader team approach in future,” Kotecha said of the role.

The objective of the new position is to support product development and launches by effective, cross functional, simultaneous engineering and improved project management, Kotecha added.

Talking about wider management changes at the company, Kotecha said: “the new structure of the corporate management board enables us to fulfill our tasks even leaner, faster and stronger in future.”