At the spring meeting of the VDMA “WG Laser”, the board elected a new chairman and a new deputy chairman. Dr Christoph Ullmann, general manager of Laserline GmbH, was elected chairman and Dr Stefan Ruppik, vice president and general manager high power CO₂ lasers and profile welding systems, Coherent, was elected as his deputy.

Dr Christian Schmitz from Trumpf was bidden farewell as chairman of the WG Laser and thanked for his long commitment. He was on the board for twelve years and was its chairman for almost eight years.   
 
The newly elected board is composed as follows: 
Nikolas Meyer, business unit manager – sales and application EMAG LaserTec GmbH, Dr Stefan Ruppik, and Dr Christoph Ullmann.
 
The VDMA Working Group represents the interests of 47 companies from Germany, Austria and Switzerland vis-à-vis politicians, business partners, the interested public, and the media. The circle of member companies includes the leading manufacturers of beam sources, laser processing systems, suppliers of components with direct reference to the end application as well as research institutes and universities. WG Laser has been active as the mouthpiece of the laser industry since 1988 as an organizationally independent grouping within the VDMA.