The Ingolstadt-based family entrepreneur Bertram Kawlath has been elected as the new VDMA President for the next four years by the VDMA general meeting in Wiesbaden. He is the regular successor to Karl Haeusgen (HAWE Hydraulik SE), who has held the office since 2020. Kawlath is the managing partner of Schubert & Salzer GmbH, a medium-sized group of companies based in Ingolstadt that specializes in industrial control valves and software systems for medium-sized companies.
"I am looking forward to this important task in difficult times, to represent the mechanical and plant engineering industry with its 3,600 or so VDMA members over the next four years," says Kawlath about his election. "Our industry is paving many ways with its technologies and solutions, for example in the broad fight against climate change, the generation of renewable energies or the automation and digitization of production processes. We are also a research-strong industry," he emphasizes. "But in order to remain internationally competitive, politics must now change course very quickly and relieve the burden on medium-sized industrial companies in particular. The flood of regulations from Berlin and Brussels is crushing smaller companies in particular, our corporate tax rate is significantly higher than the OECD average and there are no new free trade agreements that open up markets for us. All of this can and must be addressed now; we must not waste any more time," demands Kawlath. The new VDMA President also wants to work to inspire more women to take up technical professions and to the progressive Europeanization of the association.
Bertram Kawlathstidied history in Erlangen and London and obtained an MBA in Geneva, in 2004 he became Managing Director and Supervisory Board Member of Eisenwerk Erla GmbH, Saxony, which belonged to Schubert & Salzer. From 2010 to 2023 Bertram Kawlath was Managing Partner of Schubert & Salzer Feinguss Lobenstein GmbH, Thuringia. Bertram Kawlath has been involved in the VDMA for many years: He is a member of the Executive Board and the Main Board of the VDMA, and he has also been Chairman of the Board of VDMA Bavaria since 2021 until the end of 2024. In 2020 he was elected Vice President of the VDMA.
The company Schubert & Salzer GmbH, based in Ingolstadt, specializes in the development, construction and sale of innovative solutions for measurement and control technology for flowing and gaseous media (industrial control valves) as well as the development of individual ERP systems for medium-sized manufacturing companies. Valve solutions from Schubert & Salzer are used in beverage bottling and bottle cleaning, the vulcanization of car and truck tires, water treatment and in pressure test benches for aircraft cabins. The group of companies employs around 200 people and has an annual turnover of around 60 million euros. Almost 80 percent of the products are sold abroad.
Alexander Jakschik was elected to the office of Vice President . He studied industrial engineering in Dresden. Since 2015, he has been a member of the board of his family business ULT AG, based in Löbau (Saxony). The company's core business is the development and manufacture of systems for the effective removal of airborne pollutants or for reducing air humidity. He has been a member of the board of the VDMA Eastern Regional Association since 2018 and its chairman since 2022. He has also been a member of the board of the VDMA Additive Manufacturing Association since 2018.
Verena Thies, managing partner of Thies GmbH & Co. KG in Coesfeld (Westphalia), was elected vice president . Verena Thies studied business administration in Hamburg. Her family business manufactures textile machines and specializes in the development and production of dyeing machines that integrate digitalization and resource efficiency. She has been a board member of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association since 2011 and its deputy chairwoman since 2017. Verena Thies is also a member of the VDMA delegation in the European umbrella organization CEMATEX.
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