ATS founder dies

Klaus Woerner, founder and president of ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. (Cambridge, ON), passed away Feb. 7 following a battle with cancer. He was 65.
Lawrence Tapp, non-executive Chairman of the Board of ATS, issued a statement praising Woerner for his intellect, insight and passion. "Klaus was a gifted engineer, entrepreneur and business leader, who made a significant and lasting contribution to the global automation industry, to the Region of Waterloo, where he chose to found ATS more than 25 years ago, and to thousands of young engineers and tradespeople around the world who benefited from his commitment to apprenticeship training."
ATS’s Board of Directors will convene shortly to formalize a previously-developed succession plan.
ATS designs and produces turnkey automated manufacturing systems, manufactures precision components and subassemblies involving plastic, and is involved with the production of solar energy cells. The company employs about 4000 people at 26 facilities in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific.