09/19/2018

WITTENSTEIN SE: Dr. Bernd Schimpf to step down from the Management Board

Dr. Bernd Schimpf, WITTENSTEIN SE Board Spokesman, has announced that he will be leaving the company at the end of the fiscal year: he has decided not to renew his contract and will step down from the South-West German mechatronics corporation’s Management Board on March 31, 2019.

“After 17 years with the WITTENSTEIN group, I am seeking a new career direction, namely technology consulting for other businesses and organizations, for instance in the area of Industry 4.0,” said Dr. Schimpf. He joined the WITTENSTEIN group in 2001 after graduating with a doctorate from the Institute for Machine and Gear Unit Design at the University of Stuttgart, and has since played a prominent part in shaping the Group’s positive global development over nearly two decades.

Schimpf began his career at WITTENSTEIN as Head of Design Engineering, and subsequently Technical Director, at the former WITTENSTEIN bastian GmbH, which today is a WITTENTSEIN Group production facility in Fellbach, near Stuttgart. In 2008, he transferred to the company headquarters in Igersheim-Harthausen, where he oversaw all innovation and development activities in the national and international markets as Head of Generating Process Management. In 2010, he was additionally entrusted with the management of WITTENSTEIN motion control GmbH, a WITTENSTEIN subsidiary, before being appointed Director Mechatronics with overall responsibility for the three mechatronic Business Units in 2012. Prior to joining the WSE Management Board in April 2016, he spent some time at the helm of WITTENSTEIN alpha GmbH, the Group’s biggest subsidiary.

“On behalf of the Supervisory Board, the Management Board and all employees – and also as a personal statement from me – I would like to thank Bernd Schimpf for everything he has done for the firm, for his exceptional loyalty irrespective of the tasks assigned to him and for the extraordinary humanity he has demonstrated throughout his career with us. Our company’s growth over the past 17 years is due in no small part to him and to his enormous contribution – and to the special challenges arising as a result of digitalization,” commented Dr. Manfred Wittenstein, Chairman of the WITTENSTEIN SE Supervisory Board. “We wish Bernd Schimpf all the very best for the future. And as far as his professional aspirations are concerned, we’re delighted that his expertise and experience will continue to benefit our company and support our business objectives to a significant degree.”