"The European machine vision industry is in an excellent position. Between 2013 and 2019, turnover in Germany alone grew by an average of 9 per cent per year. In 2020, while turnover declined by 4 percent due to Covid-19, the decline was nowhere near as drastic as in many other industries with good prospects for future growth. It is important to strengthen this excellent standing, to open up further growth markets in the industrial and non-industrial environment and to include new players. The VDMA Machine Vision division, with over 115 members across Europe, has an important role to play in enabling this potential growth," said Williamson after his election.

He added: "Our thanks go to the former Chairman, Klaus-Henning Noffz, who during his 9 years on the Board of VDMA Machine Vision (including the last three years as Chairman) has achieved many things for the industry with a great deal of commitment." Noffz, has decided not to run again for personal reasons.

For the period 2021 to 2024, the VDMA Machine Vision Board consists of the following members:

• Dr. Heiko Frohn, CTO of Vitronic, Wiesbaden
• Dr. Horst Heinol-Heikkinen, Managing Director of Asentics, Siegen
• Dr. Martin Klenke, Director Business Development at Teledyne Imaging, Heidelberg
• Hardy Mehl, CFO, COO and CMO Product Business at Basler, Ahrensburg, Germany
• Donato Montanari, Member of the Board of Deevio, Berlin
• Dr. Olaf Munkelt, Managing Director of MVTec, Munich
• Uwe Wiedermann, Vice President Smart Factory Automation at Isra Vision, Darmstadt
• Mark Williamson, Member of the Executive Board of Stemmer Imaging AG and Managing Director of Stemmer Imaging Ltd, Tongham, Surrey, Great Britain