New election of the prostep ivip Management Board team confirms continuity and success

Dr. Henrik Weimer (speaker of the board)

Dr. Henrik Weimer has been an integral member of the board of the prostep ivip Association since April 2018, assuming the role of Chairman of the Board in 2020. Currently serving as the Director of Digital Engineering at Airbus, Dr. Weimer leads a portfolio of initiatives to achieve business excellence in product development through process optimization and digital transformation.

His responsibilities encompass overseeing the digital capabilities of Airbus Commercial Aircraft’s engineering. His organization supports and maintains the tools used by Airbus’ global engineering and supplier network, comprising over 36,000 individuals who are engaged in the design, development, certification, and continued airworthiness of all commercial aircraft products and services. His role covers the entire product lifecycle, from product requirements and architecture, collaborative systems engineering tools, detailed design and design integration, product configuration management, to manufacturing engineering and in-service engineering for repairs and upgrades. Dr. Weimer brings over 25 years of international industry experience to his role.

He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Rice University and holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern. His professional background includes significant positions in the automotive industry with Mercedes-Benz and in oil and gas exploration with Schlumberger.

A proponent of industrial collaboration, Dr. Weimer co-founded the Aerospace & Defense PLM Action Group (www.ad-pag.com) and actively contributes to the Industrial Advisory Board of the German Scientific Society for Product Development (www.WiGeP.de).

Dr. Weimer’s extensive expertise and leadership in digital engineering and product lifecycle management continue to drive innovation and efficiency in the aerospace industry.

Tomohiko Adachi

Tomohiko Adachi joined Mazda Motor Corporation as a research engineer in April 1990 after graduating from the Graduate School of Systems Engineering at Kobe University. With extensive experience in research into advanced safety vehicles, he was assigned to the Chassis Dynamics Development Department in 2004, where he led the development of chassis control and braking system technologies, and was appointed department manager in 2009.

Since 2015, he has been promoting the model-based development strategy as the chief engineer of the Integrated Control System Development Department. Through the SURIAWASE2.0 project, Adachi aims to integrate cars, industry, and communities into models. He is very enthusiastic about reforming car development through models, and is currently promoting cross-departmental collaboration from design to production, data and model management, and ultimately reforming the awareness of the vehicle development department.

From 2023, as Supreme principal Engineer of the R&D Strategy Planning Division and the MDI&IT Division, in addition to promoting model-based development, he will be responsible for promoting digital transformation across the company. With the aim of achieving real-time decision-making within the company, he aims to reorganize business processes and leverage AI/IT technology to achieve this.

Thomas Kamla

Thomas Kamla, born in 1970, brings extensive expertise in the automotive industry. He began his professional career in 1997 at Magna Steyr in Austria as a development engineer in NVH. A significant milestone in his career was his move to Audi AG in Ingolstadt in 1999, where he held various leadership positions in product development as well as strategy and business processes over two decades. From 2020 to 2024, he headed TE Strategy, Digitalization and Compliance at Volkswagen Passenger Cars. In his current position as CTO since October 2024, he is responsible for the development of the ID.1, MQB Classic and Touareg, VW cooperation projects, as well as the development of methods, tools, and digitalization in Technical Development at VW Passenger Cars. Since 2022, Thomas Kamla has been contributing his profound experience in the digital transformation of the automotive industry as a board member of the prostep ivip Association. Beyond his professional commitments, the father of two dedicates himself to his passion for skiing, classic cars, and motorcycles.

Jens Poggenburg

Poggenburg brings with him a great deal of expertise in the areas practical application of model-based development and digitalization. The growing proportion of software and electronics in smart products means that these areas are becoming increasingly important to the association's members. "I decided to spend time working on the association’s board because the need for collaboration in disruptive transformation is changing and growing significantly," said Poggenburg. "I want to be actively involved in shaping the association's new strategy and achieving concrete results for members."

Prof. Dr. Rainer Stark

After having earned the doctor degree in advanced CAD technology and a career of fourteen years in the global automotive industry, Prof. Dr. Rainer Stark has taken on the position as Professor of the chair Industrial Information Technology at the Technical University Berlin in 2008. Since then he serves as Head of the department Industrial Information Technology in the faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Transport Systems of TU Berlin. In addition he served as Director of the Virtual Product Creation division at the Fraunhofer IPK (Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology) in Berlin from 2008 until the end of 2021.

The research work of his chair at Technical University of Berlin includes, besides the innovative technologies of digital modeling and engineering in product lifecycle management (PLM) and virtual product creation (VPE), in particular the new development capabilities in the field of self-learning systems, cyber-physical systems, smart services and digital twin solutions taking into account new key competencies like artificial intelligence, IoT and model-based systems engineering.

Prof. Stark is a member of the German Academy of Science & Engineering (acatech), the research council of the platform Industrie 4.0, the Scientific Society for Product Development (Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Produktentwicklung (WiGeP), and the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP).

Philipp Wibbing

As a member of the Management Board at UNITY, Philipp Wibbing is responsible for business with a focus on digitalisation and engineering. His consulting focus lies in the areas of digitalisation, systems engineering, PLM, CIO strategy, business model innovation, agile management and artificial intelligence. He also brings his expertise in the automotive industry to other sectors and is responsible for the healthcare business at UNITY.

Philipp Wibbing studied business informatics at the University of Paderborn and has been working at UNITY since 2005. In 2012, he took over responsibility for the business unit. From 2016 to 2019, he also helped build up UNITY's business in China. Philipp Wibbing has been a member of the board of the prostep ivip association since 2018 and represents member group 2. In his role on the board, he is responsible in particular for the realisation of the annual prostep ivip symposium. He is also co-author of the book Chefsache IT. Since July 2024, Philipp Wibbing has also been a member of the UNITY Executive Board after many years as a partner.