Products, customers, markets: thanks to his 20 years in the field of automation, Dr. Kaunonen (48) is already familiar with his new duties and responsibilities. However, he was, “pleasantly surprised at how advanced the automation technology at Voith Paper is.” He will primarily be responsible for the close cooperation with the other divisions of Voith Paper and will also oversee all company activities in the South American and Asian markets. After working for some time in America and China prior to joining the Voith Company, Dr. Kaunonen is very well equipped for the challenge.

After taking a degree in industrial process and measurement control, the native Finn began his professional career in the pulp and paper automation field. He also held a part-time professorship for Papermaking Automation at the University of Tampere, Finland, and was granted an honorary doctorate at the Petrozavodsk State University, Russia in 2005. Dr. Kaunonen succeeds Dr. Roland Münch, who will be devoting himself to a new role as the manager of Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation, a corporate division of Voith Group. The new management team around Dr. Kaunonen will maintain the previous proven company strategy and continue the successful expansion of the Automation division.

Dr. Josef Gerblinger (47) was also appointed to the executive board in January 2008. He has been with Voith Paper Automation since 2005 and has been responsible for the Products group for the last two years. As a member of the executive board, he will now also be responsible for Sales, Service, Marketing, and Quality Management. Prior to joining Voith, the physicist, who holds a doctorate in Electrical Engineering, worked for companies such as Siemens and Epcos. In his position as a member of the executive board, he will deal primarily with the high quality standards of the products and the continuing global development of the sales and service network.

The youngest member of the management team has also been in service the longest: Volker Hampel (45) has been on the executive board of the Automation Division since January 2007. The graduate in Economics will continue to be responsible for the areas of Finances & Controlling, Business Development, and Human Resources. In addition, he is also responsible for the North American market. After working in corporate accounting for Deutsche Lufthansa AG and as a partner in the auditing firm Ernst & Young, Volker Hampel brings many years of experience in the financial field.

Voith Paper Automation, one of the seven Voith Paper divisions, supplies comprehensive automation solutions for the paper industry. Among them are the areas of process control technology, quality control technology, information systems and associated services. The customers benefit from the combination of process know-how and automation expertise.

Voith Paper is a corporate division of the Voith Group and is one of the leading partners in the paper industry. Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process. Over a third of the paper produced worldwide is made on Voith Paper machines. Voith is setting the standard in the paper, energy, mobility, and service markets. Established on January 1, 1867, Voith currently has 37,000 employees, € 4 billion in sales, and over 270 locations worldwide and is one of the largest family-owned businesses in Europe. Voith is an official partner in the “Germany – Land of Ideas” initiative.