Frankfurt, 3rd November 2015 – Dr Norbert Stein, Managing Director of VITRONIC GmbH, Wiesbaden, Germany, has been elected Chairman of the VDMA Robotics + Automation Association for a three year term. Stein follows Hans-Dieter Baumtrog, Senior Vice President ATS Automation Tooling Systems, Winnenden, Germany, whose term of office ended after three years. At the Members’ Assembly of VDMA Robotics + Automation held in Frankfurt last Saturday, he was honoured for his contributions and dedicated service of 25 years to the industry.

Our sector is continuing its growth path. After achieving the 12 billion euro turnover threshold in the current year, we expect a further increase of 5% to 12.6 billion euros in 2016. Our technologies are in high demand worldwide,” Stein stated on the occasion of his inauguration.

Wilfried Eberhardt, Chief Marketing Officer of KUKA AG, Augsburg, Germany, has been elected Deputy Chairman of VDMA Robotics + Automation.

The new Board consists of: Dr Norbert Stein (Chairman) Managing Director of VITRONIC; Wilfried Eberhardt (Deputy Chairman) Chief Marketing Officer of KUKA AG; Dr Horst Heinol-Heikkinen, Managing Director, Asentics GmbH & Co KG; Dr Olaf Munkelt, Managing Director, of MVTec Software GmbH; Cornelia Püschel, Managing Partner, PÜSCHEL Automation GmbH & Co KG; Dr Christian Ripperda, Vice President/Technology Director of ISRA VISION AG; Stefan Roßkopf, President and CEO, teamtechnik Maschinen- und Anlagen GmbH; Gottfried Schumacher, Director Product Management Assembly Technology, Bosch Rexroth AG; Volker Spanier, Head of Factory Automation Division, EPSON Deutschland GmbH; Michael Sträb, Chairman of the Supervisory Board/President of Güdel Group AG; and Dr Michael Wenzel, Senior Vice President, Reis Group Holding GmbH & Co KG.

The VDMA represents over 3,100 mainly small and medium size member companies in the engineering industry, making it one of the largest and most important industrial federations in Europe. VDMA Robotics + Automation forms an own association within the VDMA, which unites more than 270 members.