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Enno Scharphuis, senior vice president of the business unit assembly technology at Bosch Rexroth AG, is a new member of the Board of the VDMA Robotics + Automation Association. With this appointment, Enno Scharphuis succeeds Johannes Linden, PIA Automation, who resigned from the R+A Board in conformance with association statutory requirements.

Enno Scharphuis is also a board member of the VDMA integrated assembly solutions sector group, which he represents in the VDMA R+A Board.

“Robotics and automation are key success factors in making our industry competitive and successful also in the future,” said Scharphuis. “In addition to highly productive automation, the main task in the coming years will be to implement flexible and adaptive manufacturing systems in which a wide variety of customer requirements can be implemented quickly via software. I am looking forward to tackling these tasks together with the board and to communicating solutions and offering support to our members.”

The VDMA represents more than 3,400 German and European companies of the mechanical engineering industry. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and medium-sized businesses. The companies employ around four million people in Europe, more than one million of them in Germany. Mechanical and plant engineering represents a European turnover volume of around 800 billion euros. With a net value added of around 270 billion euros, it contributes the highest share of the entire manufacturing sector to the European gross domestic product.

The VDMA Robotics + Automation Association (VDMA R+A) forms a separate trade association within VDMA with more than 350 member companies: suppliers of components and systems from the fields of robotics, integrated assembly solutions and machine vision. The aim of this industry-driven platform is to support robotics and automation through a wide range of activities and services. Key activities include statistical analyses and market surveys, marketing activities, standardization, public relations, corporate foresight studies, trade fair policy as well as networking events and conferences.