The machine vision chapter of the VDMA, the German engineering federation, has appointed two European members to its board of members. The appointments are a further step to increase the number of non-German members in the association.
Donato Montanari, general manager of the machine vision business unit of Datalogic Automation, which is based in Monte San Pietro in Italy, and Lou Hermans, chief operating officer of Belgian firm Cmosis, were elected onto the board of the VDMA Machine Vision unit.
The election makes the VDMA Machine Vision, traditionally a German-centric organisation, much more European, and is a result of a decision taken at the last members' assembly of VDMA Robotics and Automation to open up the association to European members.
Statute changes within the VDMA made in 2010 meant that non-German members could join in order for the organisation to grow in Europe. This was one of the reasons why the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) split from the VDMA in 2012.
Toni Ventura-Traveset, the president of the EMVA, gave a statement in reaction to the VDMA becoming more European: ‘EMVA compliments the German VDMA Robotics and Automation for the election of two non-German representatives in the Board of the Machine Vision unit of the German Engineering Federation. The organisation is known to represent the interests of German machine vision players from the very beginning of the machine vision industry. With still well over 95 per cent German members, having two non-German members in the Board is the right step in the ambition to break the German dominance in member structure and membership benefits. It remains the interest of EMVA to further explore ways of collaboration and dialogue with the German VDMA for the benefit of all European machine vision companies.’
On the future aims of the VDMA machine vision unit, Montanari said in a statement: ‘As a non-German member, I will make it my first goal to increase the number of non-German companies in the association. I am convinced that European companies can bring a different and complementary perspective to the machine vision industry.’
Hermans commented: ‘Becoming a member of VDMA is natural for Cmosis since we already have a very good working relationship with many members of its machine vision group. There is a big potential for stepping up the technological leadership of our group if we work closely together, and VDMA Machine Vision provides an excellent platform for us to do so.’
The association already provides European machine vision market figures along with those for Germany, predicting 12 per cent European growth in 2014. Montanari, in his role on the VDMA Machine Vision board, presented the figures at a recent press conference for the Vision trade fair that will take place in November.
Further information:
- VDMA Machine Vision: www.vdma.com/vision
- Datalogic: www.datalogic.com
- Cmosis: www.cmosis.com
