Stephan Plenz, Member of the Management Board for Digital Technology at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, is the new Chairman of the Management Board of the German Printing and Paper Technology Association (VDMA). At its meeting at the Dresden headquarters of KAMA GmbH, the Executive Board today elected Plenz to succeed Kai Büntemeyer, who had been Chairman of the Executive Board since 2004.
"Kai Büntemeyer has shaped our trade association over the past 15 years. He carried out the honorary office with great commitment. We would like to thank him sincerely for this," emphasized Dr. Markus Heering, Managing Director of the Association, in Dresden. With his resignation from the management of Kolbus GmbH & Co KG in January, Büntemeyer also resigned from the trade association board in accordance with the articles of association. It is composed of active managing directors and board members of the member companies, who are elected by the general meeting of the VDMA trade association for a period of four years.
The new leadership duo
Stephan Plenz, studied mechanical engineering. He joined Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG as a student in 1986. He then held positions as project, assembly, production and plant manager before moving up to the Executive Board in 2008. Today, Plenz is responsible on the Group Executive Board for the strategically important Digital Technology division.
The Board of Management in Dresden elected Andreas Endters, Member of the Group Management of Voith GmbH & Co KGaA, as Deputy Chairman. The industrial engineer started his career at Sulzer in 1991 and joined Voith Paper with the merger of Sulzer and Voith. In 2000, he joined the Board of Voith Paper in Ravensburg. Endters then held various management positions before moving up to Group Management in October 2017. He is also Chief Executive Officer of the Group Paper Division.
The digital future of the printing and paper machine industry at a glance
Plenz and Endters have a key responsibility to develop and implement digital strategies for their companies. By integrating machines, data and processes into the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and using tools from the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality, printing and paper machine manufacturers help their customers to achieve high productivity gains. The new leadership duo of the VDMA trade association represents this development both in printing press construction and in paper plant construction. "With our new CEO and his deputy, our association will retain its special weight as the voice of the printing and paper machine industry," emphasizes Heering.
In addition to the elections, the focus in Dresden was on the future of print products and the implementation of PRINT 4.0 strategies. Olaf Hartmann, CEO of the Multisense Institute, gave a lecture on current research findings on the renaissance of printed and technically refined media in multi-chanel communication. In a further presentation, VDMA standards expert Andreas Faath reported on the VDMA Forum Industry 4.0 and pointed out the possibilities of Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) with regard to the transformation to Platform Economy. The standard enables smooth machine-to-machine communication and manufacturer-independent information models.
Printing and paper machine construction seeks fit junior staff
"As a high-tech industry, the printing and paper machine industry is developing technology for the future," explains Heering. He offers exciting perspectives for fit junior staff. Heering today announced an image campaign in Dresden that will spread this message before and during drupa 2020 in order to support the member companies of the trade association in their search for applicants.
