The AICHELIN Group has announced personnel changes at United Process Controls GmbH (UPC Marathon) in Göppingen and at QMULUS in Düsseldorf, with two key appointments.
Effective 1 March 2026, Daniel Panny has been appointed Head of UPC. In his new position, Panny holds overall responsibility for the site and has been granted power of attorney (Prokura). At the same time, he continues in his position as Head of Sales Europe at UPC.
Panny brings more than 20 years of experience in the heat treatment industry and contributes extensive market, industry and sales expertise to his expanded role. This combination of operational site responsibility and European sales leadership will strengthen strategic market development and consistently drive the sustainable growth of UPC.
Karl-Michael Winter, who previously served as Managing Director of UPC and in a dual role as VP R&D and Engineering at NITREX Metal, will support the AICHELIN Group’s R&D team as Senior Consultant R&D at NITREX, contributing his many years of expertise in development.
UPC specialises in control and automation systems for heat treatment plants and plays a central role within the AICHELIN Group in the further development of digital solutions.
Aside from Panny’s appointment, Mike Löpke has taken over the management of QMULUS, effective 1 February. This division of the AICHELIN Group focuses on all software-related topics, primarily the eponymous product QMULUS, an IIoT platform.
In addition to controlling industrial plants, the platform places an expanded focus on the coordination, analysis and visualisation of real-time data. The objective is to create process transparency, identify optimisation potential and enable more efficient plant control, including through the use of AI and machine learning.
Moreover, in March the QMULUS development team will open a new office in Düsseldorf, further strengthening proximity to customers and partners in the German market.
