This year the Specialist Association Foamed Plastics and Polyurethanes (FSK) Annual General Meeting was a virtual event. During the meeting, the members of the FSK also elected a new Board of Directors.

Stuttgart, February 08, 2022 – The Specialist Association Foamed Plastics and Polyurethanes (FSK) traditionally hosts its Annual General Meeting at the beginning of the International Specialist Conference Polyurethanes and Foamed Plastics. Due to the rising Corona numbers and therefore uncertain situation, the FSK had already cancelled the conference in December. However, the General Meeting took place on the announced date, January 27, 2022, as an online meeting. FSK Chairman of the Board, Albrecht Manderscheid, CANNON Germany, opened the meeting and welcomed the numerous FSK members who had logged in.

The most important item on the agenda was the election of the new Board of Directors. Most board members stood for office again. Thus, following persons were confirmed in office: Albrecht Manderscheid (Cannon Germany) as Chairman, Dr. Ulrich Fehrenbacher (RÜHL PUROMER), Dr. Dirk-Endres Hein (F.S. Fehrer Automotive), Christian Loretz (Getzner Werkstoffe), Dr. Klaus Semmler (ACMOS CHEMIE), Jörg Teschner (Klöckner PolyPUR Chemie) and Manfred Werner (SEKISUI ALVEO) as Chief Financial Officer. Newly elected to the Board were: Philipp Zimmermann (KraussMaffai Group GmbH) as Deputy Chairman, Jörg Arntzen (Dow Produktions- und Vertriebs GmbH & Co. OHG), Benedikt Broil (Covestro Deutschland AG).

Albrecht Manderscheid took this opportunity to thank departing board members Steffen Bauer (KraussMaffei Technologies), Jens Geschke (Covestro Deutschland AG) and Rüdiger Simon (sitola GmbH & Co. KG) for their commitment to the FSK and the successful cooperation over the past years. As scheduled the members also elected Cash Auditors, whereby the two candidates, Martin Dietrich (Getzner Werkstoffe) and Alexander Hinzsch (Hinzsch Schaumstofftechnik GmbH & Co. KG) were confirmed in office.

In addition to the elections, another major topic was the start of the FSK’s training activities on the safe handling of diisocyanates. Last year, considerable effort was put into creating the online training platform and gaining a competent team of trainers. As a result, all courses are now available online, following the successful pilot phase, and can also be offered as classroom training. The high demand is currently quite a challenge, and the office team is still looking for additional staff, reported FSK Managing Director Klaus Junginger.

There was also a clear consensus that members and the industry were eagerly awaiting face-to-face contact at the traditional FSK Specialist Conference. FSK Managing Director K. Junginger expressed his hope that the FSK’s 60th-anniversary celebration at the meeting in Dortmund on September 13 and 14, 2022, can be held as a face-to-face event. This year, FSK is also looking forward to the specialist group meetings, the beginners’ workshop at member company Zelu and the joint stand at the K trade fair in October.