Central Association of Opticians and Optometrists – ZVA
Dusseldorf (ots)
The delegates of the Central Association of Opticians and Optometrists (ZVA) met on 11./12. March in Weimar for the annual general meeting and elected the presidency, board and committees for the next three years. The program also included the economic situation, association activities and various guest lectures.
Thomas Truckenbrod concluded his fifth and, at his own request, last term as ZVA President with the presentation of two awards: Detlef Micheli, member of the board of the Thuringia opticians and optometrists guild from 2000 to 2020, received the Golden Medal for his great commitment to ophthalmic optics and a strong professional association and for his commitment to the economic framework conditions in training.
Michael Odo Hauck was also awarded the Gold Medal by Thomas Truckenbrod: “It is an honor for me to give the last pin that I present to Michael Hauck – to the one who awarded the Léon Hauck Prize, donated by his father, gave a face.” Michael Hauck not only held the laudatory speech at many award ceremonies, but also further developed the profession in numerous honorary positions.
In the report on the current situation at his 27th and last general meeting, Thomas Truckenbrod presented the ZVA Annual Report 2022. The report is available on the ZVA website at retrievable and should reflect the association’s activities and developments in ophthalmic optics. The detailed figures will soon be presented in the form of the annual ZVA industry report. Overall, the industry recorded a slight increase in sales of two percent, with brick-and-mortar retail being clearly ahead, especially in the field of corrective glasses: online sales remain marginal and also posted a whopping minus of 7.5 percent in both sales and turnover.
The reports from the committees followed: Chairman Rainer Hankiewicz spoke for the Vocational Training Committee, Chairman Thomas Heimbach for the Business Committee, Chairman Christian Müller for the Technical Committee and finally Chairman Giovanni Di Noto for the Committee for Public Relations and Marketing. All four committee chairs were also confirmed in their offices by election during the first day of the meeting.
Change at the top of the association
The previous ZVA Vice President Christian Müller from Mülheim an der Ruhr replaced Thomas Truckenbrod from Leipzig after a good 13 years and thus the longest tenure as ZVA President (see also separate press releases). In his inaugural speech, Christian Müller said that a future-oriented profession must adapt to changing demands and circumstances: “I’m happy to take over the office of President from Thomas Truckenbrod and continue in this spirit.” The new President is supported by Armin Ameloh from Wietmarschen in Lower Saxony, who replaced Dieter Großewinkelmann as Vice President in 2021, and Kai Jaeger from Cologne, who was newly elected to the ZVA Presidium.
Colorful program of lectures
The guest lectures on the agenda for Saturday and Sunday were a colorful mix and began with Ole Puls, creative director at the agency komm.passion, who presented the ZVA campaign “Your opticians – quality you can see” for this year and the first motifs with new ones slogans that were well received by the participants.
Afterwards Dr. Carolin Lohse from the TU Berlin presented the results of her work on the subject of “Vocational training in transition – focus on ophthalmic optics”, which was then followed by lively discussion.
ZVA President Christian Müller presented the association program of the ZVA under the motto “Create together”, which will soon be relaunched together with the changes and additions carried out jointly in the association.
On Sunday, Dr. Stefan Bandlitz, who presented himself to the general assembly as the new headmaster of the Higher Technical School for Optics in Cologne (HFAK), the current status of an ongoing study on the use of orthokeratology in road traffic. It is investigated to what extent the visual functions change during the day when wearing so-called Ortho-K contact lenses overnight and whether this has an impact on the ability to drive.
Thomas Heimbach, Chairman of the Economics Committee, presented a study by GfK (Growth from Knowledge, formerly the Society for Consumer Research), which deals with the sales channels in ophthalmic optics (see also separate press release).
Matthias Müller, member of the ZVA board, reported extensively on the possibilities of the electronically conducted journeyman’s examination.
Finally, Rainer Hankiewicz, chairman of the vocational training committee, gave an overview of the possibilities for amending the master craftsman examination ordinance.
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Press contact:
Sarah Koester
Association of opticians and optometrists
Alexanderstrasse 25 a
40210 Dusseldorf
Phone: 0211/ 86 32 35-0
Fax: 0211/ 86 32 35-35
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.zva.de
Original content from: Central Association of Opticians and Optometrists – ZVA, transmitted by news aktuell
