VDMA Spring Meeting at Laserline

On the 16th of May the spring meeting of the VDMA working group took place at the premises of Laserline in Mülheim-Kärlich. The meeting was chaired by the Managing Director of VDMA Dr. Sven Breitung and started with the welcome of the members. Another important item on the agenda was the farewell of Dr. Christian Schmitz, Chairman of the Board of TRUMPF, due to his entering retirement. Dr. Christoph Ullmann, Managing Director of Laserline GmbH, was elected as the new Chairman of the Laser AG and Dr. Stefan Ruppik, Vice President and Managing Director of High Power CO2 Lasers & Profile Welding Systems Coherent, was elected as his deputy. Other current topics included the fact that the working group has grown to 47 members and has become the conceptual sponsor of the world's leading trade fair LASER World of PHOTONICs and the World of QUANTUM. Future plans include cooperation with the parallel automatica trade fair, which also has the VDMA as its conceptual sponsor.

The market situation and OPC UA were also important topics discussed during the meeting. After a lunch break, a company tour was provided.

Afterwards, the Quantum Technologies and Photonics Forum took place, where the latest developments in this field were presented. Another important topic was the new geopolitics and its impact on mechanical engineering.

VDMA activities in the field of AI were also discussed before the meeting concluded with an overview of current topics from the VDMA.

Overall, the spring meeting of the VDMA working group was an important date for members to find out about the latest developments in the industry and to exchange ideas.