His move to the top of Sick 's Supervisory Board is planned for May 2022 to take over from Klaus Bukenberger, who has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board for many years. Dr. Mats Gökstorp, responsible for Products & Marketing, will succeed him as CEO on October 1, 2021. At the same time, Dr Niels Syassen will be appointed to the Executive Board and take over responsibility for Technology & Digitalization from Dr Bauer.

Dr. Mats Gökstorp has been responsible for Products & Marketing on the Executive Board since January 1. The computer scientist and engineer joined the company in 2003 with the acquisition of Sick IVP. As a member of the Executive Board, the native Swede was responsible for vision products from 2007 and later for sales processes within the Group before being appointed to the Executive Board for Sales & Service in 2013. In recent years, he has been responsible for the global alignment of sales structures, laying important foundations for the Group's continued worldwide growth.

Dr. Niels Syassen has been responsible for innovations in gas and particle analysis solutions as a member of Sick's Executive Board since 2018. Before joining Sick in 2017, he held various management positions in product development at Bosch in the field of automotive electronics and at Dräger Safety in the field of industrial gas measurement technology. He studied physics with a focus on lasers, optics and semiconductors at the Technical University of Munich and at Imperial College in London. He completed his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in 2008.

Dr. Robert Bauer joined the company in 1994 as Head of Research and Development Automation Technology. From 1998, he held overall responsibility for research and development on the Executive Board. He was appointed to the Management Board in 2000 and became Chairman of the Management Board in 2006. Klaus Bukenberger has been a member of Sick's Supervisory Board since 2002 and Chairman since 2005. As part of the generational change on the Supervisory Board, he will not be standing for re-election to the Supervisory Board in 2022 after 20 years of service.

"On behalf of the Supervisory Board, I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Robert Bauer for his extremely successful commitment to the company. For decades, he has been instrumental in shaping the SICK Group's innovation leadership and continuous, sustainable growth," says Bukenberger. "At the same time, we wish Dr. Mats Gökstorp and Dr. Niels Syassen every success in their new roles on the Executive Board. We are convinced that both will use their expertise and international experience to further advance the globalization and digitalization of the company."

The owner family would also like to sincerely thank the Chairman of the Executive Board for his great achievements: "Dr. Bauer has added important chapters to the success story of our company with his profound technical expertise and foresight. During his time on the Executive Board, he has succeeded in shaping SICK into one of the global market leaders in the automation industry, always building on the values that have characterized our family-owned company since it was founded by Dr. Erwin Sick. We are very pleased that, in accordance with our wishes, he would like to continue his commitment to our company as Chairman of the Supervisory Board in May 2022. At the same time, we would like to thank Mr. Bukenberger for his important work as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Sick AG, which has played a decisive role in the successful development of our company over the past 20 years."