The members of VDMA Metallurgy elected a new board on June 11, ahead of the general assembly in Frankfurt am Main. Till Schreiter, CEO of ABP Induction Systems GmbH, was reconfirmed as chairman of the board.
Till Schreiter has been a member of the VDMA Metallurgy board since its foundation in 2017. Last year, he succeeded Dr. Ioannis Ioannidis as chairman. With his election to head the newly formed board, the graduate electrical engineer (RWTH Aachen University) can now continue his successful work together with the representatives from the three specialist areas of foundry machinery, metallurgical plants and rolling mills, as well as thermal process technology, now combined in a single committee.
Upon his election, Schreiter stated: Without metallurgy and the associated mechanical and plant engineering, prosperity and the energy transition in Germany and Europe would be inconceivable. It is our task as a specialist association to support our members in this important transformation and to ensure that they are well prepared for the changing global competitive environment. In the coming years, it will therefore be increasingly important to strengthen the competitiveness of the metallurgical machinery and plant engineering by promoting technology-neutral and low-bureaucracy framework conditions.
Schreiter is supported in this role by the two deputy chairpersons of the board, Swenja Benz, Managing Director of Bredtmann-Girke Industrieofenbau GmbH, and Rötger Teyke, Managing Director Commercial at FRIEDRICH KOCKS GmbH & Co. KG – both of whom have also been active members of the VDMA Metallurgy board for many years.
Dr. Timo Würz, Managing Director of VDMA Metallurgy, is looking forward to collaborating with the new trio of chairs and the board, and summarizes: The general assembly has once again demonstrated that VDMA Metallurgy forms a strong network for jointly developing solutions to the challenges ahead. These range from digital transformation and industry- specific industrial policy to all aspects of our industries’ global competitiveness.
VDMA Metallurgy forms the network and the joint platform of metallurgical machinery producers and – comprising the specialist departments Foundry Machinery, Metallurgical Plants and Rolling Mills, as well as Thermo Process Technology – bundles the common topics and interests of its members who supply plants, machinery, equipment, and process technology for metal production as well as metal processing. The trade association represents around 180 companies, which account for around 80 per cent of industry turnover.
The VDMA represents more than 3,600 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and SMEs. The companies employ around 3 million people in the EU27, more than 1.2 million of them in Germany alone. This makes mechanical and plant engineering the largest employer among the capital goods industries, both in the EU27 and in Germany. In the European Union, it represents a turnover volume of an estimated 870 billion euros. Around 80 percent of the machinery sold in the EU comes from a manufacturing plant in the domestic market.
