PLCopen elects board members in Gorinchem, The Netherlands
PLCopen held its annual general meeting on May 20 in Gorinchem, The Netherlands. Part of the meeting related to elections to the board of management. Three board members, Achim Koch of SMS Group, Efrossini Tsouchnika of Siemens and Jaeyoung Park of Omron, informed PLCopen of their wishes to resign. In their places, Dr. Julian Alexander Vogel, Ingmar Binder and Hedon Ri were proposed and appointed, respectively.
Vogel is head of automation platform at SMS Group, focusing on generative automation engineering. At SMS, he worked on transforming and integrating PLCopen models into engineering workflows and evaluated use cases, applying modern software-defined control practices with CI/CD in OT, as well as generative AI technologies. “Previously at RWTH Aachen University, I researched and implemented component-oriented process automation using experimental Soft-PLC technologies, ACPLT/OV and ACPLT/KS, under IEC 61131 principles. I also built OPC UA server components, typically in C, and gained relevant experiences in standardization topics such as OPAS and MTP, which I now aim to support and advance in PLCopen", said Vogel.
Binder is a seasoned professional at Siemens, where he has been contributing for more than 34 years. He works within the digital industries division, specifically in factory automation. In his role, he is responsible for the Simatic controller portfolio, covering both hardware and software-based control products. Throughout his career, he has gained experience across automation domains, including I/O systems, human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and safety technologies. Leveraging this expertise, he drives the development, management and strategic direction of core automation products within Siemens.
Ri has more than 20 years’ experience with Omron. He is in charge of PLC business growth and realizing the importance of PLCopen day by day. “Let’s work for better factory automation,” said Ri.
PLCopen expressed its thanks to Koch, Tsouchnika and Park for all their work for the board of management.
