Siemens’ Head of Vertical Glass and Solar Bernhard Saftig is to retire.

Mr Saftig has served Siemens' glass industry customers for more than three decades and will retire in early July.

His successor is 44-year-old Tobias Wachtmann, who has been promoted from within the company.

Mr Wachtmann said: “My goal is to continue cultivating close relationships with our customers in a spirit of trustful collaboration and accompany our customers on their path to digital transformation.

“I see our strength particularly in the combination of industry-specific knowledge, an unusually extensive product portfolio, a globally active network, and international partners.

“We can thus comprehensively meet the demands of our customers in all stages of their value chain, from the field, automation and process level to the senior management level, as well as the associated, specific IT requirements.”

Mr Wachtmann began his career at Siemens in 2000. After completing a two-year vocational training programme to become an associate engineer, he held numerous sales positions in the Siemens branch in Cologne, Germany.

In 2012, he moved to Process Industry headquarters in Karlsruhe, where he also worked passionately on behalf of glass industry customers right from the start.

In 2017, he moved to Vertical Glass & Solar directly, where he was responsible for development until June 1.