In Brief

Dr. Peter Köhler will be appointed new Chairman of the Weidmüller Group executive board with effect from 1st March 2011. He joins the three-person management team alongside Harald Vogelsang (Finance Director) and Volpert Briel (Sales Director), and replaces Dr. Joachim Belz who is leaving the company. “I would like to thank Dr. Belz for the work he has carried out in the past years. He succeeded in strengthening the Weidmüller brand and giving new focus to the company,” declared Christian Gläsel, Chairman of the management board of the family business – Weidmüller. “With Dr. Köhler we gain an experienced international manager with outstanding industry expertise. He will be an excellent addition to the international Group operations,” added Gläsel.

Dr. Köhler has worked previously for several leading companies in managerial posts – from 1996 to 2002 successfully in the management of the Weidmüller Group. Since 2002, Dr Köhler has been the Managing Director of W.C. Heraeus GmbH, Hanau, a business division of the precious metals and technology company Heraeus. W.C. Heraeus, with over 4,900 employees around the globe, generated 1,667 billion Euro of product revenue in 2009. “Dr. Köhler and his management team will continue to accelerate our innovative pace and strengthen the Weidmüller Group and our business particularly in the expanding markets,” expanded Gläsel.

Dr. Peter Köhler, new CEO of the Weidmüller group

Arnold Büscher, new Managing Director of Weidmüller Germany

Arnold Büscher took on the leadership of Weidmüller GmbH & Co. KG from 1st November 2010 and takes on the operational responsibility for sales in Germany. He replaces Kurt Kantner, who moves to become involved in a private foundation. “We thank Mr Kantner for the successful management of Weidmüller GmbH in recent years. We are delighted to have secured Mr Büscher, an experienced MD, who – with his market specific knowledge and his experience of our customer's needs – will drive German sales forward,” stated Sales Director Volpert Briel.

Büscher was previously with several well-known companies as a manager in national and international sales. Among others, he served as the managing director of the Rittal Corporation the US sales organisation of the international company. Most recently he was a Senior Vice President at Schäfer Werken in Neunkirchen/Siegerland. “The international success of Weidmüller is based on its deep roots and stable business operations in Germany. These should be expanded to help win us new customers. It is a task I am looking forward to,” said Büscher about his goals.

More than 300 representatives from the business and science fields in Ostwestfalen-Lippe, Germany inaugurated the “Centrum Industrial IT” (CIIT) in Lemgo in November 2010. Weidmüller was there as one of the partners and first tenants of the new building. In the technology centre university researchers will work alongside specialists from the private sector. In CIIT new concepts will be developed for industrial automation in both machines and systems.

“As a cooperation partner of the Industrial IT Centre, we combine the university's research environment with our company's application relevant experience that has been gained through our many years in the field of automation technology. Through this interaction comes new impetus, this strengthens the innovative power of Weidmüller and will flow into the development of new products and technologies,” explained Dr. Joachim Belz, outgoing member and spokesman of the Board, at the opening.

To encourage the cooperation between science and industry is the goal of the Research Institute Industrial IT that has announced a research award for the first time last year. The prize will be awarded to work which convincingly demonstrate how automation technology can benefit from the use of IT and methods from computer science. In November 2010 the winners were chosen.

The “Innovation” category: The 10,000 euro prize was awarded for his work ‘CAEX – a vendor neutral exchange format for plant design’ to Dr. Rainer Drath of the ABB Research Centre in Ladenburg, Germany.

The “Young talent” category: The 5,000 euro prize was awarded for his work ‘A switch for a fault-tolerant, industrial Ethernet’ to Dr Georg Gaderer from the Institute for Integrated Sensor Systems of the Austrian Scientific Academy, Vienna.

The “Industrial IT Research Award” is sponsored by Weidmüller together with Phoenix Contact. Dr. Joachim Belz initiated this research prize and is included as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Industrial IT Institute. “Only with useful research are new ideas for processes and technologies in universities and business possible. Weidmüller is aware of the cooperation with the scientific community, as here the trends and developments are driven,” explained Belz. “We see ourselves as promoters of a higher interest that makes the research field of Industrial IT visible.” This also needs continuing support: the next Research Award is already planned for 2012.

The demands in the automation industry for higher data volume and lower transmission loss have led to increased use of polymer optic fibres (POF). The heavy-duty polymer optic fibres feature a simple connection method with standardisation transmission protocols. With the increasing development of fibre optic transmission solutions, the need for secure and quick processing of the POF interfaces has gained importance. From this background, Weidmüller introduces the innovative multi-function tool HTX-IE-POF to the market, this makes the otherwise complex assembly of SC-RJ connectors easy and quick and guarantees consistently high quality.

Go here to find out how POF connectors in IP20 and IP67 can be assembled in no time.

Multifunctional tool HTX-IE-POF

Connectors and special tools for photovoltaic applications

A suitable connector for photovoltaic systems distinguishes itself by minimal contact resistance, high-quality processing and simple handling. Weidmüller's WV4 connector for photovoltaic facilities meets precisely these requirements. It features Weidmüller's proven quality and is compatible with conventional mating profiles.

As professional, speciality tools that can cope with the mechanical loads that occur during use over a long period of time, Weidmüller offers the new crimping tools CTF PV WM4 and CTX PV. The tools for punched and twisted crimp contacts are exactly suited for the requirements of photovoltaic applications.