At the EPSG general assembly, Anton Meindl from Bernecker + Rainer Industrie Elektronik GmbH was unanimously elected to join the EPSG board of directors.

Anton Meindl (39), business manager at Bernecker + Rainer Industrie Elektronik GmbH at their headquarters in Eggelsberg, Austria, is responsible for the development of classic programmable logic controllers, remote I/O, and fieldbus technology. In addition, he is instrumental when it comes to the topic of safety. After completing his studies in the fields of electrical and industrial engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich, he became active with international companies in the areas of application design, sales, and project management as well as facility and manufacturing automation. In 1999, Anton Meindl joined B&R and has led the Controls business unit since the middle of 2000.

"The success of ETHERNET Powerlink has already been proven over the last few years. No other system can even come close to boasting more than 100,000 installed nodes in approximately 10,000 series production machines. That's why it is now the leading industrial Ethernet system on the market," says Meindl. "I'm looking forward to working with the EPSG board to promote this trend even further."

With Anton Meindl on the board of directors, the EPSG has gained one of the most qualified engineers in the area of ETHERNET Powerlink. As manager of the Controls business unit at B&R and a pioneering developer, he already deserves a great deal of credit for the enormous success enjoyed by ETHERNET Powerlink. "In Mr. Meindl, we definitely have the right man onboard to chart the right course for ETHERNET Powerlink," says Dr. Edwin Kiel, chairman of the EPSG. "Together we will position ETHERNET Powerlink as the leading system on the market."

The ETHERNET Powerlink Standardization Group board of directors is now composed of the following five members:

Dr. Edwin Kiel (Lenze AG), Chairman
Prof. Thomas Müller (University of Zurich, Winterthur)
Andreas Dreher (Hirschmann Automation and Control GmbH)
Prof. Dr. Konrad Etschberger (University of Ravensburg-Weingarten)
Anton Meindl (Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik GmbH)