EPMA Council

Master in Metallurgy from Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Responsible for Digital Metal activities at Höganäs AB.

Christoph Laumen, is a senior level German engineer who joined Linde in 2006 and currently serves as Executive Director R&D for the newly combined industrial gases leader Linde plc. In this position he reports directly to the CTO of the company. His research scope includes Water Technologies, Construction Technologies and all classical Manufacturing Technologies including Additive Manufacturing.

He is responsible for setting strategic direction for all gas application related research and development activities globally and for the coordination of respective academic and commercial networks, which facilitate the fast transfer of technology and innovation to partners and end-customers.

He has been in various positions within The Linde Group for the last 11 years with several global assignments in for example Sweden and China. Prior to this Christoph worked as Managing Director of Lothar Huck GmbH in Germany, as a project leader within Corporate Engineering at Hilti Aktiengesellschaft in Liechtenstein and as an R&D engineer in the field of Heat Treatment at AGA in Sweden, now Linde’s Swedish subsidiary. He holds an M.Sc in materials technology from the Mittelhessen University of Technology, Germany and an executive General Management certificate from INSEAD Business School.

Steve Moseley holds a bachelors degree and Ph.D. in Metallurgy from the University of Sheffield, UK, and has worked in the field of powder metallurgy since 1987. Following research work on HIPing of ceramic-metal powder composites, he spent 3 years in the steel industry before returning to PM as Technical/Quality Manager for a UK-based hardmetal manufacturer. Since 1996 he has worked at Hilti in Liechtenstein primarily on the development of cutting materials, joining technologies and drilling systems, covering cemented tungsten carbide hardmetals, diamond impregnated segments and polycrystalline diamond. His current position is Key Expert and Chief Scientist, Business Area Electric Tools and Accessories.

Philippe Gundermann has been appointed VP Strategy and Financial Communication. He provides as well overall supervision of research and engineering activities of ERAMET group.

His previous position was CEO of AUBERT & DUVAL & ERASTEEL, a position he has been holding for 6 years (5000 employees, a turnover of 1bn€, 16 industrial sites in the world). AUBERT&DUVAL & ERASTEEL, are world leaders in high performance steels, titanium, super alloys, high-speed steels and powder metallurgy.

In addition, he is involved in different professional organizations, such as President of EPMA (European Powder Metallurgy Association) and Board member of A3M (Mining, Minerals and Metals Alliance).

With a metallurgical engineer background Philippe Gundermann has held various technical and managerial positions within the ERAMET group since 1993. He started in the Nickel-Cobalt Sandouville Refinery as Principal Process Engineer and after the development of new recycling activities he took over the R&D and Investment Management for this entity.

He has then been involved in the industrial strategy of the Nickel Division of ERAMET, especially in the first stages of the major industrial programs in New Caledonia.

From 2003 to 2007, Philippe Gundermann was CEO of Eurotungstene, leading the team and developing new powder products and metallurgical businesses in a technical and diversified products range context. Eurotungstene is a 100 % subsidiary of ERAMET, mainly playing in the competitive international metal markets, with a specific dedication to Asia.

Matteo Federici holds a M.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Bologna (Italy). Soon after graduation became R&D Technologist at Sacmi Imola S.C., where he has worked for more than 20 years so far. Originally involved in the improvement of forming and sintering processes for Ceramic materials, after few years he has been appointed as sales manager of ceramic plants in South America, Eastern Europe and Germany. Since 2006 he has become Head of the Business Unit “Special Pressing”, which deals with all forming and thermal equipment for PM, refractory materials, steel shaped plates, alloys coining and includes some of the activities of few subsidiaries of SACMI, such as Riedhammer GmbH, Gaiotto Automations SpA and Laeis GmbH.

Mr. Ingo Cremer is GM of CREMER Thermoprozessanlagen GmbH as well as CEO of CREMER Polyfour GmbH and CREMER Engineering GmbH.

Mr. Cremer has more than 30 years' experience in the field of industrial furnaces for PM and MIM. Since his Master Graduation in Science and Furnace Construction in 1996, he has managed the family-owned enterprise together with his brother Harald Cremer.

His professional expertise in customers' needs and market development and conditions make Ingo Cremer a crucial player for both success and growth of the companies.

In 2007, Ingo Cremer had the honor of being appointed President of the EPMA. He held this office until 2013.

Education: Study of Business Administration at Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria, specialized in Marketing and Leadership Working experience: In his former positions, Bernd was responsible for Marketing at Mondi Business Paper. Before that he worked at Neuson Kramer and at T-Mobile in Sales and Marketing. In Dec 2007 Bernd started to work for Miba, first he was responsible for Business Development in Asia, where he worked on site. At the end of 2011 Bernd came back from China to start working in Austria as Managing Director/Chief Sales Officer. Since Feb 2021 Bernd is General Manager Miba Sinter Group.

Peter is a M.Sc. Chemical Engineer with an MMT degree. He is our material and process specialist, with expert knowledge on problem solving and new developments.
Together with his team, he is the contact for idea generation, development of new materials and processes, test and measurements as well as simulations, calculations and patent applications.
He is currently member of the board in EPMA, Chairman of the ESPG-group under EPMA and chairman of the Danish Magnetic Society. Recent publications has been in the Int. Journal of Powder Metallurgy, Powder Metallurgy, Mold Making Technology etc..

Georg Breitenmoser (1956) holds a Materials Engineering degree of the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland (1981) and a Master degree in Business Administration of the Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo (CalPoly), California, USA (1989).

He held an R&D position at a Swiss producer of welding consumables from 1981 to 1987. In this position he also worked as a consultant to licensees in South America, South East Asia and China.

In 1989 he founded his first company, Breitenmoser & Keller AG, which is a Swiss producer of radiators. He kept working there until 2011, when he sold the company. Georg’s involvement in Powder metallurgy dates back to the early days of MIM when in 1992 he founded Parmaco Metal Injection Molding AG, Fischingen, Switzerland which today is one of the leading European MIM producers.

Parmaco Metal Injection Molding AG has been a member of the EPMA since 1993 and has won several EPMA component awards.

Cèsar Molins graduated as an industrial engineer from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona and continued his graduate studies obtaining the Master’s and then the PhD degree in Nuclear Engineering Sciences from the University of Florida in the USA in 1981.

Even though his main academic subject was nuclear reactor neutronics, he also studied metallurgy and right after his graduation he entered the Powder Metallurgy world in AMES, a family-owned company co-founded by his father, where he became the General Manager in 1985. Thus, he has now worked in the world of PM for 35 years.

From the very beginning of his work at AMES Cèsar became very involved in international PM associations, presenting papers at PM conferences in Europe, America and Asia and his mixture of technological passion and managerial duties made him a worldwide ambassador of Powder Metallurgy.

In 1998 he chaired the first World PM conference fully organized by EPMA in Granada, Spain. He became the third EPMA President in 2001, after sitting for some years on the EPMA Council and Board where he still serves today. His international involvement brought him to the International Liaison Committee of MPIF and he spoke on behalf of European PM in the USA, Brazil, India, Turkey, Japan and Korea. He received the Ivor Jenkins award in 1998 from the Institute of Metals in the UK, the Fellowship award of PMAI in 2011, the Distinguished Service Award of the MPIF in 2015 and the APMI International Fellowship award in 2016. He was a strong promoter of the joint effort of EPMA, MPIF and JPMA to develop the Global PM Property Database, which was developed during his presidency of EPMA. He also chaired EPMA’s Euro PM 2011 Congress & Exhibition in Barcelona.

His several advisory duties in different governmental bodies in Spain and Catalonia have helped to promote the image of industry in general and of PM in particular. He is a long standing member of the Board of the Spanish Association of Automobile Component Manufacturers and a member of the Industry Commission in the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce where again he represents the PM industry.

Under his leadership, AMES, the company he manages, has grown to 155 Million Euro turnover and 7 plants in 4 countries and 3 continents. Following its strong technological vocation, AMES has developed cooperation with universities and technological centres in Spain, Europe and Asia.

It can be said that Cèsar Molins has been a worldwide promoter of the PM industry, technology and of international cooperation.

Thomas Lambrecht studied chemical engineering at the Munich technical university from 1978 until 1984, he started with a company in Munich that designed and realized ceramic plants all over the world as a project engineer. During that time he spent several years in Tunisia, Algeria and China building 2 tile, a brick and 2 sanitary ware factories.

Then he moved to a tile press manufacturer in Trier as a General Manager for 4 years.

In 1995 he joined Dorst Technologies, first as a sales manager and since 2000 as Managing Director.

He became a member of EPMA in 1996, more than 20 years ago. Since then he has served on the Council and he is currently a member of the Board.

Guido Degen joined GKN Sinter Metals in 1996 as Product Development Engineer. In 2001 he was appointed Plant Manager Bonn and in 2005 he took on the dual role of Plant Manager Bonn and Oberhausen. In 2007 he was promoted to Operations Director and took responsibility for the Radevormwald Conventional & Forge plants. In 2008 he became Vice President Operations taking responsibility for Bonn, Filters and the Medium Segment and joined the Regional Management Team. In 2010 he was given additional responsibility for the India operations and supported the integration of the newly formed Europe & Asia Pacific region. In 2011 he took on the dual role of Regional Supply Chain Director and Vice President Operations. In 2013 he was appointed to VP Business Development and Strategic Planning, GKN Powder Metallurgy. In 2014, Guido Degen became Senior Vice President Business Development and Advanced Technology GKN Powder Metallurgy. In 2017 he was appointed to SVP Additive Manufacturing & Business Development. In 2018 he took the role of President Additive Manufacturing, GKN Powder Metallurgy. Since 2016, Guido Degen is Executive Council & Board Member at the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA). Guido Degen holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cologne, Germany.

Mechanical engineer after Warsaw Technical University, manager of the automotive industry. For over 23 years the Vice President of the Management Board of POLMO LOMIANKI SA, company which has 80-year-old tradition and employment on the level of approx. 220 employees. The company manufactures and sells metal parts (from sintered iron powders), plastic products and tools. POLMO LOMIANKI SA customers are very demanding producers of shock-absorbers, steering columns, seats, wire harnesses. Polmo products are sent all over the world, to all continents. Ms. Izabela Kulszewicz started working at the POLMO LOMIANKI SA right after graduation of Precision Mechanics at the Warsaw Technical University. Already during work in Polmo, she completed post-graduate studies in Project Management. Initially, she was a metallurgy technologist, then promoted to the positions of the Main Metallurgist and Director of Metallurgy. Since 2000, she has been the Marketing and Development Director at the same time as the Vice-President of the Management Board. She is responsible for acquiring new products, starting their production, developing metallurgy and plastics processing in the company based on high automotive standards. In 2015, she received the Silver Engineer award by Technical Review (one of the oldest technical, journalistic magazines in Europe), a year later awarded the Golden Engineer statuette.

Magnus Ekelund holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry and PhD degree in Inorganic Chemistry from Stockholm University. Started at Sandvik 1994 and worked with Raw Materials, Powder Processes and Material Design both for cemented carbide and ceramic materials. His current position is Senior Expert Raw Materials and Powder Technology within R&D at Sandvik Coromant.

Adeline Riou is Global Sales Manager for Metal Powders for additive manufacturing at Aubert&Duval and the co-author of the "Introduction to Additive Manufacturing Technolgy" and "Introduction to Hot Isostatic Pressing Technology" guides published by EPMA.

Previous associative activities:

• 2009-2015 Co-chair of the EuroHIP group
• 2011-2014 Europe Vice chairman of the IHC-International HIP Committee
• 2001-2011 General Secretary of the HSS Forum

Carlo Sgarbossa is a Mechanical Engineer and graduated in 1990 from the University of Padua and was recruited as Technology Manager at Comau ( part of the Fiat Group).

In 2009 Carlo joined a ferrous and non-ferrous powder producer, Pometon which is located in the Venice region of Italy. He assumed the position of Sales and Marketing, with the commercial responsibility for the PM and Friction markets, which are Pometon’s most strategic sectors. Carlo has a wide range of experience in both ferrous and non-ferrous powders including copper, red alloys, iron, stainless steel, zinc, tin, bismuth , electrolytic copper powder and many other base metals and alloys, produced either via air or water atomization.

HCarlo will also pioneer Pometon’s focus on the emerging AM market which will require specialized alloys. Three Pometon patents are attributed Carlo. In 2019 he was appointed as a Director of Pometon in addition to his appointment as a Council Member of the EPMA.

Shashi S Shukla graduated from the RWTH Aachen in Germany, joining TRW Automotive Engine Components in 1995.In 1999 he joined GKN Powder Metallurgy in Sales, Strategy and Business development, beofre becoming Managing Director of Hoeganaes Corporation in EU/Asia. In 2017 Shashi became CEO Surface Technology & Ceramic Powders at H.C. Starck, before moving to his current position as President of EMEA at Höganäs AB. In 2020 he was appointed as a Council Member of the EPMA.

Per Ingo is currently the Managing director for Carpenter Powder Products AB, a position he has held since 2017. Prior to this, he worked with CPP AB in 2008 after more than 20 years in different technical and production positions in the steel industry in Sweden and France. He holds a Masters degree in Metallurgy from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and a Master of Business Administration from Stockholm School of Economics.
In 2020 he was appointed as a Council Member of the EPMA.

Johanna has studied material science and engineering at the TU Darmstadt (Germany) with the focus on metals and ceramics. After her PhD studies on the field of sintering of nanocrystalline Titania, she started her working career at Schunk Sintermetalls, Heuchelheim, Germany as an R&D manager for Metal Injection molding. 2011 she changed over to the BASF SE to work as a technical marketing manager for Catamold, a well-known Feedstock for metal injection molding. Today she is still support customer with all technical aspects globally. In addition to that she is steering the global automotive segment of Catamold.

Marius was born in Barcelona and studied Mechanical Engineering with a PhD. in hydraulics. Later his career Marius attended to the PLD and AMP programs at the Harvard Business School. Marius has spent all his professional career in the automotive industry. He started in Engineering, moved to Program Management then Sales and finally since 2015 into General Management. Early in his career Marius worked for big companies like ArvinMeritor or Magna but from 2011 he moved to the mid-size ones like Hilite in 2011 and since 2018 at PMG where he is currently the Group CEO

Within the field of powdermetallurgy I have published 75research articles in addition 400 published patents and patent applications. My research spans from materials design,sinteringand tribology of hardmetalsand diamond materialsto designof TI alloys, Co-Cr alloys andand fundamental research on powder metallurgy. I am/have supervised 23Ph:D students from the company/universitysideall related to powdermetallurgy. have supervised 1.5 phd as principal supervisor and 4 as second from the university side. I did my habilitation in 2007 at KTHonhardmetals including powder, compaction and sintering, phases and structuresof cemented carbides, 2011-2020 I have been adjunct professor in Applied materials science at Uppsala university and 2020 I applied for and qualified for the Lise Meitner adjunct professor position atLund university. This after have gone through a full professors evaluation (again now at Lund).At Uppsala among other tasksheaded the strategic initiative on additive manufacturing -and during my management we created an international master in AM, which started this autumn in additioncreated aresearch centre-Add-Life focused on printed materials for the medical sector.During 2004-current I have been lecturing and planning and giving courses in sintering of hardmetal,wear and tribology of metal cutting tools and rock drills, and materials design on powder based materials –hardmetal, diamond, titanium. I have been external examiner at University of Sheffieldand Univ. of Witwatersrand SA. Ph.D jury member in Sweden, France, Spain and the UK, Powder metallurgy professors evaluator in Sweden. Invited speaker to many powder metallurgy conferences and Technical programme committee member of Euro-PM, World-PM, Euromat, and board member of Plansee Seminar. I am a reviewer for IJRMHM. Currently I am also chair of the Hero-M2i research centre on ICME headed by KTHand member of Euro-HM steering group

José García hold a Mechanical Engineering degree from Comahue University in Argentina. He carried out his PhD at Vienna University of Technology, Austria in cooperation with Widia GmbH, Germany, receiving his PhD degree in 2001. After a period in the cutting tool development at Boehlerit GmbH & Co KG 2003-2007, he moved to the Max-Planck-Institute for Iron Research and later to the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin in Germany to carry out his habilitation in cemented carbide and coating technology. In 2013 he received his venia docendi from Vienna University of Technology, Austria. In 2011 he joined AB Sandvik. His current position is Senior R&D Expert and Technology Area Manager for Cemented Carbide and Sintering within Sandvik Coromant R&D.