The term of office of two new DGO Board members began on January 1, 2024. Dr. Georg Anderson and Prof. Dr. Timo Sörgel were already elected to the Board at the DGO General Assembly on June 15, 2023. They now replace Katja Feige, Fraunhofer IPA, Prof. Dr. Andreas Bund, TU Ilmenau, and Andreas Schütte, whose terms of office ended at the end of last year.
The DGO Board 2024 is now made up as follows: Dr. Martin Metzner, Fraunhofer IPA (Chair), Sabine Sengl, AtoTech (Vice Chair), Dr. Thorsten Kühler, MacDermid Enthone Industrial Solutions (Vice Chair), Andreas Zahl, Dr.-Ing. Max Schlötter GmbH, Dr. Georg Andersohn, Aalberts Surface Technologies GmbH and Prof. Dr. Timo Sörgel, Aalen University.
Dr. Georg Andersohn is Head of Research & Development at Aalberts Surface Technologies GmbH (formerly AHC) in Kerpen. At the beginning of his career, he studied general mechanical engineering at TU Darmstadt. He then worked as a research assistant and later as head of the Surface Technology department at the Center for Engineering Materials (MPA-IfW) at TU Darmstadt, where he also completed his doctorate on the subject of corrosion testing of thermally stressed materials in cooling systems for combustion engines.
As part of his work on the board, Dr. Andersohn would like to promote the expansion of contacts with industry and research as well as the professional exchange between the two groups. On the other hand, impulses from the perspective of a coater in a constantly changing industry are important to him. This primarily concerns aspects such as legal requirements, energy and sustainability, competitiveness and innovation. He would like to use his many years of scientific and technical expertise to support the DGO's committee work and publicly funded research.
Prof. Dr. Timo Sörgel is a professor of surface technology, in particular electroplating, at Aalen University. His research focuses on chemical and electrochemical dispersion coating with applications in battery electrode production, for example. He previously worked at ESK Ceramics in Kempten, initially in research and development and later in product management in the field of electroless nickel dispersion coatings. After studying chemistry at the University of Ulm, he completed his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart in the field of solid state electrochemistry.
Prof. Dr. Sörgel would like to use his commitment to the Board of Directors to expand and promote young talent in the field of vocational training and university studies. His aim here is to strengthen cooperation with schools and knowledge workshops. In addition, it is important to him to focus on the following questions, which also relate to the continuous change in electroplating and surface technology: What are the effects of changing framework conditions (availability of raw materials, substance bans, opportunities and risks of using AI)? What is happening at the interfaces with other disciplines? How will, can and must the industry in Germany change in order to remain competitive and a technology leader? Against this backdrop, how can synergies be created and stimulated along the "recruitment of young talent - training/studies - deployment in the company" chain? How can the DGO provide the best possible support here?
