The Supervisory Board of ElringKlinger AG has appointed Ulrich Zimmer to the Group Management Board. Zimmer will take on the responsibilities of Reiner Drews, who is stepping down from the Management Board at his own request upon completion of his contract following a successful 19-year tenure at ElringKlinger on March 31, 2026. As Chief Operating Officer, Ulrich Zimmer will oversee the Lightweighting/Elastomer Technology, Metal Sealing Systems & Drivetrain Components, and Metal Forming & Assembly Technology business units, in addition to the corporate units Production, Quality, Purchasing, Real Estate, and Supply Chain Management as well as the area of Innovation and R&D. Ulrich Zimmer (55) currently holds the position of Senior Vice President R&D at Traton SE within the Volkswagen Group and is responsible for Traton?s German R&D sites in his role as Managing Director.
Among his accomplishments in this capacity is the establishment of a global R&D organization in the field of electromobility. Prior to this, Ulrich Zimmer headed Powertrain production at MAN Truck & Bus SE for six years. Before joining MAN in 2017, he held management positions at Daimler Truck for many years.
In this context, he was also responsible for large-scale production units with complex operational processes at various sites. He will take on his new responsibilities at ElringKlinger in the course of 2026. Ulrich Zimmer holds a degree in physics from Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen and has successfully completed leadership programs at IMD Lausanne, ESMT Berlin, IESE Barcelona, and HEC Paris.
Zimmer is due to take up his new post in the course of 2026.
