5/9/19

New roles for two familiar faces at COPA-DATA

Company’s growth leads to new roles for two long-time COPA-DATA colleagues from Italy and Germany. Giuseppe Menin was appointed to the vacant position of Industry Manager Pharmaceutical, and Philipp Schmidt will take on the newly created position of Technology Scouting and Prototyping.

Both Giuseppe, from Italy, and Philipp, from Germany, are proven COPA-DATA employees with considerable experience in their respective field of knowledge. Their new roles mean that their expertise will now be more easily accessible to our international network.

Buona fortuna, Giuseppe!

Giuseppe Menin has worked since the late 1980s in a variety of roles in electrical engineering, PLC and CNC system programming, and software development. He has also coordinated several R&D projects for automation and the monitoring of machinery. In 2004, Giuseppe was appointed Area Manager for COPA-DATA Italia, moving on to become regional Industry Manager. He was responsible for Italian business development in the energy and pharmaceutical industries, as well as food & beverages. In the process, he bolstered his knowledge of subjects such as Industry 4.0, OT-IT integration, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

Giuseppe has now taken on the role of Industry Manager Pharmaceutical for our entire group. “It is very inspiring for me to be part of the international Industry Management team at COPA-DATA. I’ll now have a better overview of the big picture, and I am looking forward to the international networking. I hope to bring to the table all of my knowledge and experience about the challenges, preferences and possibilities in this important sector at COPA-DATA,” says Giuseppe Menin about his new job.

Since 2014, Giuseppe has been a member of the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) in Italy. As part of the Connected Machines task force for the GAMP Italy Community of Practice, he is regularly in contact with engineers at leading pharma companies. He has also recently joined the Pharma 4.0 Special Interest Group at ISPE International, and is in regular contact with international mechanical engineers, pharma companies, and life science industry consultants.

Our zenon Software Platform already provides many options to help customers streamline the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products and reduce complexity. "On the one hand, this industry requires very strict safety and compliance with GMP standards. On the other hand, customers want flexibility, and feel increasing cost pressure from generics and contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMO). I am confident that our zenon Software Platform can provide the right combination of flexibility and compliance for the pharmaceutical industry,” explains Giuseppe about his objectives.

Viel Glück, Philipp!

Philipp Schmidt joined COPA-DATA Germany in 2010. He was soon heading up our Cologne office. “My studies and my personal interest in the latest software technologies quickly made me a specialist in challenging issues, even beyond the zenon universe,” he states. His core activities were conceptual consultations with customers and the development of technical solutions in the area of digitalization. He developed a variety of apps for Android and iOS, and developed considerable experience with web services, cloud solutions and predictive maintenance using AI systems.

As Head of Innovation Management, his collaboration with Product Management at our head office in Salzburg intensified in 2016. In his newly created role, he will be responsible for Technology Scouting and Prototyping. In this role, Philipp will focus on the constant technological change that digitalization is bringing to our customers and which automation technology has to open itself to. Philipp states: “OPC UA, cloud computing, machine learning, databases, HTML 5, web services – many new technologies offer us great possibilities but also bring risks with them. My focus will be on using a practical approach to evaluate opportunities as well as risks.”

Using prototype solutions, his goal is to quickly develop know-how and experience. This will become the subject of further analysis and the continuous improvement of zenon based on real requirements. “I was and always will be a nerd!” Philipp says. “Evaluating the right technologies and solutions for our zenon Software Platform, and making life easier for our customers is exactly what I want to do. It’s a great field of play for me!”

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