Dr Folker Weißgerber
Long-standing member of the VW Brand Board of Management
Honorary citizenship awarded on 22.11.2004
Dr Folker Weißgerber was born on 25 March 1941 in Chemnitz, where he attended school and completed an apprenticeship as an electrician from 1955 to 1958.
From 1961 to 1964, he worked as a factory electrician at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg and qualified as an electrical engineer in a distance learning programme while working.
Until 1972, Folker Weißgerber worked in his specialist field at various management levels and became Head of Department in Wolfsburg Production Planning in 1979.
In March 1985, he took over the "Central Production Planning" department and was head of the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg from 1989 to the end of 1991. From December 1991 to February 1993, he was Deputy Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen brand, "Production, Logistics" division.
Folker Weißgerber always remained close to his native city of Chemnitz and, with his entrepreneurial foresight and confidence in the well-qualified potential of engineers and skilled workers, had a decisive influence on the Volkswagen Group's decision to make a strong commitment to the Chemnitz region when German unity was restored in 1990.
It enabled Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH to build one of the most modern engine plants in the world in Chemnitz. The Chemnitz engine plant was the first Group site in the world to produce modern direct-injection petrol engines. With these fundamental decisions and the realisation of further investments, the Chemnitz site will continue to be one of the Group's most efficient production facilities beyond 2005. This is also of outstanding importance for the entire supplier industry in the region.
Folker Weißgerber has rendered great services in utilising the research potential of the Chemnitz University of Technology and the Fraunhofer Institute IWU in Chemnitz. Among other things, the "Mechanical Engineering Initiative Next Economy (MAIN)" significantly expanded basic research in Chemnitz and forged close links between teaching, research and production.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate three times for his commitment to science and research:
In 2000 by Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and Chemnitz University of Technology and in August 2002 by the Technical University of Košice.
On 15 November 2004, he was appointed Honorary Professor for Manufacturing Strategies in Automotive Engineering at Chemnitz University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
In recognition of his services to Chemnitz as an automotive manufacturing location, Prof. Dr Folker Weißgerber was made an honorary citizen of the city of Chemnitz on 22 November 2004.
He died on 25 August 2007.