Dual presidency

The members of the Construction Equipment and Building Material Machinery Association within VDMA e.V., the German Engineering Federation, have unanimously elected Johann Sailer (50), Managing Partner at GEDA-Dechentreiter GmbH & Co KG, Asbach-Bäumenheim, to be their new chairman for the coming three years at their annual assembly in Bremen today.

Sailer, who has been a board member of this professional association since 1999 already, will also act as President of the Committee for European Construction Equipment CECE from 1 January 2012 onwards. This is also where he sees a focal point for his work in the coming three years of his term of office: “We aim to leverage the benefits of this dual presidency and pool forces to optimise the cooperation of the two associations also structurally in the interest of the industry,” says Sailer.

To him it is important to have a strong representation of the industry in order to secure Germany as a manufacturing location on the European market and give a voice to SMEs, in particular.

Sailer succeeds Dr. Christof Kemmann, Managing Partner at BHS Sonthofen GmbH, Sonthofen in office, who no longer stood for election after chairing the Association for 7 and a half years. Sailer speaks on behalf of 300 mostly small and medium-sized companies in the construction equipment, building material, glass and ceramic machinery industry that have come together under the umbrella of VDMA’s Construction Equipment and Building Material Machinery Association. In 2010 the industry generated total sales worth EUR 10.6 billion.