Robert Axtman
Executive Director WW Marketing, Dassault Systemes - DELMIA
Bob has been with Dassault Systemes - DELMIA (formerly DENEB Robotics) for 15 years. Besides his 30 years of sales and marketing experience, his background includes automated high speed equipment design, robotic system design and installation, as well as automated systems sales. He has served many roles within the organization from new product sales to an assignment in Japan as President of DELMIA Japan Inc. and Director of business development for the Asia Pacific Rim from 1995 to 1999. Before accepting a position as Executive Director of Business Intelligence at DELMIA, Bob functioned as the Executive Director of DELMIA Worldwide Marketing bringing identity to the DELMIA brand name within the global Dassault Systemes PLM ecosystem.

Dr. Guido Beckmann
Beckhoff Automation
After receiving his PhD of Electrical Engineering at the University of Braunschweig, Guido Beckmann worked in strategic development for communication at Lenze Drive Systems. In 2006 he joined the technology marketing group of Beckhoff Automation, where he is responsible for the marketing of the Safety-over-EtherCAT technology within the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG). He is Chairman of the Technical Committe of the ETG and a nominated expert for two IEC working groups within the SC65.

Manfred Brill
Manager Software Governance, Schneider Electric
Manfred began his career in 1975 at BBC (ABB today) in the industrial automation business unit working as a plant automation engineer in different projects. He then joined AEG and later, Schneider Electric through a joint venture, where he held various positions as a development manager. Since 2005 he represents Schneider Electric in the executive committee of the FDT Group.

Matthias Bronowski
Project Manager, Information Technology, BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH
Matt began his career with BSH Home Appliances in the US where he helped set up systems and processes for a new dishwasher manufacturing facility. After returning to Germany in 1999, he worked with abaXX Technology AG (now Cordys Software) as a project, program, and professional services manager in the banking and e-commerce field. In 2002, he re-joined the BSH Group and took over the position of IT Manager for the four manufacturing plants of BSH in North America. Since January 2006, Matt serves as Program Manager in the Information Technology Division of BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte in Munich, where he leads the next generation product lifecycle management (PLM)initiative for BSH.

Jim Caie
Vice President, ARC Advisory Group
(Director of Controls, Conveyors, Robotics, and Welding, General Motors - Retired)
Jim leads the ARC team serving the automotive and other discrete industries.  He has over 20 years experience in executive leadership roles, formulating and executing successful manufacturing engineering strategies.  Prior to joining ARC, Jim spent 36 years with General Motors Corporation.  His most recent position was Director of Controls, Conveyors, Robotics, and Welding (CCRW), where he led development and validation of common, global CCRW architectures, standards, and specifications for GM assembly and fabricating plants.  In addition, Jim established capability to effectively design and deploy CCRW systems; led the deployment of plant floor systems for all North American car and truck programs (averaging 8 plant sites per year); and led the development, validation, and deployment of controls, networking, and robotic systems for all North American press and hydroforming projects.

Valentijn de Leeuw
Senior Consultant, ARC Advisory Group
Valentijn’s responsibilities include research and consulting in the process industries, with a focus on clients in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. He has extensive experience in organizational change and effectiveness, business process improvement, value-based performance management, governance, project management, knowledge management, operations management, asset management, innovation and engineering, and manufacturing IT.

Guy Denis
Sales Manager, Cisco Systems
Guy has 20 years experience in industrial automation solutions with Siemens, Mitsubishi, and Rockwell. He has specialized in industrial Ethernet networks for the last 8 years. Guy works as a sales manager for Cisco in the European Manufacturing sales team.

Paul J. Fletcher
Director of Application Engineering, Siemens PLM Software
Paul has over 22 years of experience in developing and deploying engineering and manufacturing software solutions in multiple industries including automotive, aerospace, and heavy equipment. The last 12 years have been devoted to manufacturing planning and simulation, enterprise-wide manufacturing data management, and quality solutions.

Jörg Freitag
Member of the Board, PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation (PNO) and PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI)
Jörg was elected to the Board of Directors of PNO (PROFIBUS User Organization), the Regional PI Association (RPA) in Germany, in 2007. In early 2008 he was also elected to the Board of Directors of PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International). For more than 10 years Jörg has gathered experience in different areas of Siemens, and has extensive knowledge about automation technology and industrial communications. His close cooperation with Edgar Küster for many years enabled him to gain deep insight into PROFIBUS and PROFINET.

Alexander Alonso Garcia
Production and Materials Technology, Automation Technology and Simulation Daimler AG
Alexander studied electrical engineering and automation at the University of Applied Sciences in Stuttgart. After working six years in development of human machine interfaces and industrial robotics at Dürr Systems he joined Daimler to design new production concepts, advanced industrial robot technologies, and next generation engineering tools for automation.

Shaibal Giri
Practice Head, Manufacturing Solutions, EIS Europe, Tata Consultancy Services
Shaibal has 15 years experience in manufacturing IT and industrial automation solutions through leadership roles in technology adoption, consulting, marketing, and business development in India and Europe. From managing automation systems in the largest integrated steel plant in India to SIMATIC implementations in Siemens across discrete and continuous processes, he brings a 360-degree perspective to solve manufacturing challenges using emerging technologies and platforms. Currently, he heads the Practice in TCS Europe that provides manufacturing operations management solutions from sensors in the plant floor all the way up to MES and ERP. A strategic client advisor, he works across all core industry verticals enabling manufacturers reduce global system deployment time, integrate business and plant systems in real-time, and achieve higher levels of process efficiencies.

Uwe Grundmann
General Manager Europe, ARC Advisory Group
Uwe is responsible for managing ARC’s operations in Germany and Europe.  He has over 20 years experience in the manufacturing industry with deep knowledge in Automation and Enterprise applications.  Before joining ARC, Uwe was head of the Software Marketing and Sales team at Rockwell Automation in Gruiten, Germany.  His responsibilities included strategic development of new product based businesses. With his outstanding market knowledge he established new successful business fields within the German Sales operation and opened new channels for product and system sales.  He was an active member of the OPC European Steering Committee and helped the OPC foundation to perform their tasks. He is active in the VDMA, ZVEI, and VDI organizations.

Michael Haas
CEO, Certec EDV GmbH
Michael has over 15 years experience in SCADA (data acquisition, visualization, and operation systems). He collected his know-how through international automation and standardization projects and the development of SCADA products. Today, Michael is CEO of Certec EDV GmbH and is responsible for product design and conception.

Dr. Ali Haj-Fraj
Director Strategy and Portfolio, Industrial Automation Systems, Siemens AG
Ali began his career as a research and teaching assistant at the Technical University of Munich in the field of dynamics and control. He joined Siemens AG in 2001 as Project Manager for Drives Development in the Motion Control Systems business unit. From 2004, he served as Director of Business Development for Automation in Metal Forming. In 2007, he took over his current position as Director of Strategy and Portfolio in the Industrial Automation Systems business unit.

Michael Herbort
Service Business Development, SEW-EURODRIVE
Michael has led the Service Business Development division at SEW-EURODRIVE for the past two years.  Following his electrical engineering studies, he first gained experience as a sales engineer.  In 1999 he became head of the Technical Office in Karlsruhe.  By building up an industry-oriented service, end user support team and a comprehensive service portfolio, SEW-EURODRIVE has managed to position itself as a premium service provider for all drive technology requirements.

Steffen Himstedt
Managing Director, Trebing & Himstedt Prozessautomation GmbH & Co. KG
Steffen founded Trebing & Himstedt in 1992 together with Stefan Trebing. As Managing Director he is responsible for Marketing and Sales. Steffen is an active member of the European Steering Committee of the OPC Foundation, ISPE, the PROFIBUS User Organization, and the FDT Group. In the business areas of manufacturing integration and industrial communication, Trebing & Himstedt provide solutions for continuous and company-wide access to process and production information. As SAP Service and Special Expertise Partners, Trebing & Himstedt implement the SAP MII integration software (Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence) and provide their own Best Practice solutions for OEE, MDA and PP-PI on the basis of SAP MII.

Andreas Huhmann
Marketing Manager, HARTING Electric
Andreas is responsible for the strategic marketing of ICPN (Industrial Communication and Power Networks).  ICPN is a division of HARTING Electric GmbH & Co. KG in Espelkamp, Germany.  Before joining ICPN, Andreas was a product and market manager for industrial connectors.  Andreas studied Physics in Bochum and Essen, Germany.  He is also chairman of the PROFIBUS International working group “Passive Network Components” and an active member of the DKE working group for generic cabling in industrial environments.

David Humphrey
Director European Research, ARC Advisory Group
David is part of the automation consulting team at ARC covering manufacturing topics in Europe and is located in ARC’s offices in Germany.  He is a member of ARC’s hybrid manufacturing, packaging and industrial networking teams.  David has over 20 years of experience in industrial automation, including specifying, designing, and programming control systems in areas ranging from automobile to packaging, implementing projects involving PLCs, HMI hardware and software, industrial networks, drives and motion control.  Prior to ARC, he was Area Manager for Automation Solutions in Rockwell Automation's Munich, Germany office. In addition, he has worked for Raytheon Company and Termiflex in the US.

Zafar Kamal
Director Strategic Initiatives, Intelligent Platforms, GE Enterprise Solutions
Zafar joined M.W. Kellogg Company in 1990, where he assignments resulted in improved engineering design processes for large petrochemical and infrastructure projects. In 1993, Zafar joined SHL SystemHouse, where he led business process reengineering and digitization teams assigned to process chemical, pharmaceutical, textiles, and food & beverage manufacturing enterprises. In 1996, he joined ABB Automation where he began in commercial business development, subsequently moving into product management to help formulate and lead ABB’s Manufacturing Systems Program. As Vice President and Global Business Manager at ABB, he led the global manufacturing and advanced process control products business. In 2003, Zafar joined the Process Instruments Division of Thermo Fisher Scientific Corporation as Vice President of Strategy, Marketing, and Product development. He joined General Electric's GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms business in November 2007 as a leader of strategic initiatives.

Ralf Kaptur
Product Manager Industrial Networking, Hirschmann Automation and Control
After completing his degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Wuppertal, Ralf joined ABB in Mannheim where he was responsible for the planning and configuration of data networks.  After working as a project manager for networking services with Cabeltron Systems in Dreieich, he joined AMEC SPIE System Integration in Karlsruhe where he held the positions of Area Sales Manager, Team Sales Manager, and finally Director of Technical Development.  Since May 2005, Ralf has served as Product Manager for Industrial Networking at Hirschmann Automation and Control where he is responsible for security products and strategy.

Stefan Knauf
Product Manager for Modular PLC Systems, Mitsubishi Electric Europe
Stefan has held his current position since 2006. The product division he is responsible for focuses more on solutions implemented with automation technology than on individual products. Stefan is well acquainted with what manufacturers and users expect from modern automation solutions, both from this work and from his previous positions as automation products engineer with Hitachi Drives & Automation and project engineer for data acquisition and control systems with Axima Refrigeration.

Klaus Koch
President, CAT – Consulting for Automation Technology
Klaus earned his diploma in Electrical Engineering at the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt in 1976.  After that he pursued a career in development, product management, international sales, and general management for control system products at BBC (later ABB).  Since 2003, Klaus has consulted suppliers and end users of automation products in areas of efficiency and strategy. He is a member of the GMA committee 5.22 “Security”.

Bernd Kremer
Vice President, Professional Services and Consulting, iTAC Software
Bernd has held various positions in the areas of quality management, business process design, and organization development. At Bosch Telecom, he was responsible for technical product introductions and customer service. Bernd joined iTAC Software in 2001 where he is responsible for customer project execution in Europe, North America, and China. He gained his technical competence in the implementation of MES systems through his participation in business process design projects for an automobile manufacturer.

Claus Kuehnl
Head of System Marketing, Phoenix Contact
After his studies in Electrical Engineering and an initial career in machine building, Claus joined Phoenix Contact in 1996 as Product Manager for Controls Software. In 2002 he moved to Strategic Marketing with a focus on industrial machinery where he now heads up the company's strategic focus on the machinery industry.

Udo Marmann
Head, Decentralized Drive Technology, SEW-EURODRIVE
After training as a machinist, Udo studied Electrical Engineering at the Fachhochschule Trier, then held various positions at SEW-EURODRIVE.  Today, he is head of the Decentralized Drive Technology Department.

Peter Mischitz
Director of Marketing Operations, Mitsubishi Electric Europe
Peter joined Mitsubishi Electric in 1984 as product manager for PLC systems in the Industrial Automation division. In the following years he was instrumental in building up project departments and the engineering, product marketing, and software development departments. After this he worked as a key account manager before becoming the director of the Industrial Automation division. In April 2006 Peter became director of Marketing Operations and since then he has been responsible for the Factory Automation Business Group’s product marketing throughout Europe.

Martin Robinson
Head of Pre-Sales Europe, Integrated Engineering Services, Satyam Computer Services
Martin has 17 years of experience in aerospace and defense related design engineering, following 12 years of marine engineering gained from service with the Royal Navy. He has worked extensively in design and development of aircraft electro-mechanical, hydraulic, and fuel systems, as well as complete aircraft design/modification and manufacturing levels. Martin has experience in the nuclear, automotive, and marine industries and special machine design, manufacture, and installation. He has experience across many CAD platforms, design and development of design processes and procedures, and project, risk, and resource management. In his last role, he played a vital role in setting up an aircraft level design office to EASA accredited Part 21J standards.

Fulvio Rusina
Advanced Engineering, COMAU
Fulvio began his career with CSELT, the Telecom Italia Labs. In 1986, he joined SESAM, a joint venture of COMAU and DEC, as Unit Manager, and he continued his assignment as Managing Consultant in the area of factory automation. Since 1993, Fulvio has served COMAU in a variety of management roles, including Research and Development Planning as well as European Business Development and Marketing of the Service Business. Since 2000, Fulvio has been responsible for Advanced Engineering at the COMAU Headquarters.

Dr. Olaf Sauer
Head of Control System Architectures, Frauenhofer Institute
Olaf is in charge of Fraunhofer IITB’s production monitoring and control business unit, which delivers production monitoring and control systems for Daimler plants and various MES suppliers. Previous to this position, he ran his own business within the METROPLAN group dealing with production and material flow planning, manufacturing control, and logistics. Prior to that Olaf was in charge of introducing the Digital Mock-up and first applications of digital manufacturing at Bombardier Transportation.

Christian Schwaiger
Sales Business Development Manager, Manufacturing Industries Europe, Cisco Systems
Christian works in the Vertical Manufacturing team within Cisco’s Enterprise Vertical Business Group. He works with a team of business development, channel development, and marketing managers to identify and develop solutions for the manufacturing markets across Europe. Christian is leading the team to build a world-class eco-system of partners and alliances that work together to deploy these solutions. He has been with Cisco for 11 years and has been helping to broaden the scope of strategic marketing and business development within the European organization.

Frank Sellke
Manager, Industrial Market Management, WAGO
Frank studied electrical engineering with a major in digitial data technology at the Fachhochschule in Hamburg, Germany. He worked for 4 years in electronics development before joining WAGO in 1994 in automotive sales. Since 2001, Frank has head the Industrial Market Management department at WAGO.

Dave Shaw
Manufacturing Systems Development Manager, Land Rover
Dave has spent his career in automotive manufacturing and is currently responsible for over 20 mission-critical manufacturing systems at the Land Rover plant. He began his career in the Manufacturing Engineering Department of Rover Group where he first became involved with plant floor automation and IT. Dave was responsible for introducing the first computer controlled wheel alignment facilities in Rover and the move to In Process vehicle electrical testing. He moved into the IT organization in 1990 and has since been responsible for IT solutions, in both the plant floor and logistics areas of the operation, supporting the business transformation program.

Dr. Gerd-Ulrich Spohr
Head of Strategic Tasks, Technology Department, Siemens Automation & Drives
Head of Technical Committee for Automation, ZVEI
Gerd-Ulrich started his industrial career in 1980 at the Process Engineering Department of Bayer in Dormagen, Germany where he was responsible for the introduction of process control systems in several projects.  He later became project manager for the development of the Bayer CAE-system for the planning of process control equipment.  In 1992 he joined Siemens and was responsible for the design and market introduction of the PCS7 process control system.  In 2003 he switched to his current position where his responsibilities include technology scouting, patent portfolio management, and innovation management.  Gerd-Ulrich is also head of the technological committee of the automation group of the ZVEI (German Electrical Manufacturers Association) and member of the core team for the "Integrated Roadmap Automation 2015+" published by the ZVEI. 

Dipl-Ing. Edgar Stadler
Manager, Application Software, SICK AG
Edgar started his career in software design and development at SOFTING AG with a focus on embedded systems for the car industry. In 1992, he joined SICK AG and was responsible for the system and software design for a new generation of 'time-of-flight' laser measurement sensors. In 2000, he switched to his current position where his responsibilities include the overall management of the project and the development of a company-wide engineering platform.

Eelco van der Wal
Managing Director, PLCopen
Eelco is Managing Director of the worldwide association PLCopen, headquartered in The Netherlands. Eelco has 20 years of experience in industrial controls, starting in 1986 in the marketing of real-time control systems. Before joining PLCopen in 1995, he was a product manager for a line of high-end motion controllers with a focus on the European machine tool industry.

Dr. Joerg-Oliver Vogt
Senior Business Consultant, T-Sytems Enterprise Services GmbH
Joerg-Oliver is part of the T-Systems Global Business Development & Consulting for the automotive and manufacturing industries. He joined T-Systems in 2001 after completing his Ph.D in logistics and production at the University of Hohenheim and a period as an independent business consultant. As a senior consultant within the SCM and Production consulting practice, he executes projects in business process definition and optimization, business and IT alignment, lean management, and IT strategy development in the automotive industry.

Dr. Jürgen Weinhofer
Director, Integrated Architecture, EMEA, Rockwell Automation
Jürgen heads business management for the Allen-Bradley Integrated Architecture business including the Logix control, NetLinx communications, safety, condition monitoring, Kinetix motion control, View visualization, and distributed I/O products. In this role, he is in charge of the business strategies and holds a leadership role for the sales growth initiatives across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa. He began his career with Rockwell Automation as a Senior Project Engineer in the Advanced Technology group in 1997, taking on increased responsibilities as Principal Engineer. In 2000, Jürgen transitioned from the technical career ladder to a managerial position as Software Manager for Logix controllers and motion modules. In 2005, he assumed the role of business manager for the Kinetix servo drive and motor business unit. Prior to joining Rockwell Automation, he managed the Automation Partner Program for B&R Industrial Automation.

Jens Wienecke
Product Manager, Wireless Network Technology, Phoenix Contact Electronics GmbH
After a vocational training to become a machine assembly technician, Jens studied electrical engineering at the Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany. Since 2000, Jens holds the position of Product Manager for Factory Wireless modules in the Wireless Network Technology Group at Phoenix Contact.

Dr.-Ing. Mathias Zagel
Senior Director, Product Strategy, Oracle
Mathias has been Senior Director of Product Strategy for Oracle, previously Agile Software, since 2003. He is responsible for several areas of Oracle’s Enterprise PLM solution. Mathias has been in the PDM/PLM industry since 1991, and has held various roles in software development, quality management, partner training, and product management. .