New Chairman of the VDW Bernhard to succeed Prokop

Hermle board member Franz-Xaver Bernhard was unanimously elected new chairman by the board of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders' Association) and the Machine Tools and Manufacturing Systems Association within the VDMA at its fall meeting.

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Bernhard will succeed Dr. Heinz-Jürgen Prokop on January 01, 2022, who will step down from the chairmanship at the end of his second term of office after six years in accordance with the articles of association. "I am very pleased about the trust placed in me and look forward to my future tasks on the VDW Executive Board," Bernhard said after his election. He added: "The machine tool industry is going through difficult times. Although orders are now flowing more strongly again, bottlenecks in the supply chain are still preventing orders from being delivered in many cases. It's a matter of repeatedly highlighting and explaining to business partners and the public why a medium-sized industry like ours often has its hands tied."

Franz-Xaver Bernhard was born in 1959. After completing secondary school, he trained as a toolmaker. After his basic military service, he completed further training as a mechanical engineering technician and obtained his technical college entrance qualification. In 1983, he joined Hermle AG, initially as head of application technology. He then embarked on a sales career from Head of Technical Sales to Divisional Sales Manager until he was finally appointed to the Board of Directors for Sales, Research and Development in 2001. "That was always my goal, because customer contact and the relationship of trust that is built up with customers over many years which is essential for capital goods sales still motivates me today," says Bernhard, describing the appeal of the job.

Bernhard has been involved in the VDW since 2001, initially as a member of the Economic Committee. In 2003, he took over as its chairman. Since 2013, he has also been active on the VDW board.

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