Simon Voss, M.Sc.

Managing Director E-Mobility Lab of RWTH Aachen University & Head of E-Mobility Office of RWTH Aachen University

Research – Industry Collaboration: Joining Forces for the Acceleration of E-Mobility Production

The current dynamics of e-mobility innovation are without example; technological challenges meet promising potential with a market craving for solutions. Hence, time to market is the critical key enabler to commercial success. For this, the driving forces are fast transitions of innovation from the laboratory environment into industrial operation. Systematization of this “Innovation Chain” offers decisive advantages, here showcased for the innovation of battery production technologies 

Sebastian Thiede, Prof. Dr.-Ing.

Full Professor, Chair Of Manufacturing Systems at University of Twente

Sustainability of future manufacturing systems

Technological advancements over the last decades lead to significant changes in the design and operation of manufacturing systems and those developments are likely to continue in the future. The introduction of advanced manufacturing approaches such as flexible (matrix) manufacturing systems, additive manufacturing, stronger robotization/automation as well as the introduction of digital support solutions certainly incorporate promising potentials in terms of productivity and flexibility. But the question remains to which extend those approaches can also contribute to an improved sustainability of manufacturing systems – are there inherent advantages or also potentially challenges and conflicts of goals?

Sekhar Rakurty, PhD

The M. K. Morse Company

Providing a Roadmap for Small and Medium Sizes Industries Towards Sustainable Manufacturing Processes

Due to the current growth rate of the world’s consumption and supply chain challenges, developing and implementing a sustainable manufacturing process is essential. The US Environmental Protection Agency states, “A sustainable manufacturing process makes products using methods that reduce environmental impacts while concurrently conserving energy and natural resources.” Sustainable manufacturing process implementation in small and medium size industries has been challenging and met with limited success. This presentation will focus on implementing the principles of the sustainable manufacturing process, such as the 6Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recovery, Redesign, and Remanufacture) in a (small/medium scale) cutting tool company. The presentation will focus on case studies such as reducing cutting fluid usage, improving manufacturing efficiency through automation, recycling cemented carbide, revamping the manufacturing process to reduce the supply chain impact, etc. Through academic and industrial collaboration, the presentation will propose a roadmap for sustainable manufacturing processes for small and medium size industries.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Volker Stich

Managing Director of FIR at RWTH Aachen & Director of Cluster Smart Logistic

Digitalization in business and society – the new normal

Digitalization has started to change our lifes, behaviours, ways of communication and social interactions. Sometimes we are aware of these changes, sometimes not, because it is a gradual process, but with exponentional speed. The presentation tries to highlight, what has happenend already and what could be the future of „New Normal“

Professor I. S. Jawahir, Ph.D.

Professor and James F. Hardymon Chair in Manufacturing Systems & Director of Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing at University of Kentucky

Sustainable Manufacturing for Circular Economy

New opportunities for sustainable value creation in all involved technological elements of Circular Economy (CE) through Sustainable Manufacturing (SM) principles will be presented. A systematic metrics-based approach for new product/process development for sustainable manufacturing including the 6Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover, Redesign and Remanufacture) with closed-loop total life cycle (Pre-manufacturing, Manufacturing, Use and Post-use) considerations to facilitate SM will be presented. Sustainable value creation in closed-loop SM will be shown as the basis for achieving and advancing CE, with digital technologies to serve all stakeholders (manufacturers, users, and the society at large).

Digital Leadership to Master the Twin-Transition

Hardly any other question is currently occupying corporate executives more than the question of how you can lead your company into a completely new future against the backdrop of globally recognized climate targets and the potentials of digital transformation. The associated challenges summarized under the title of so-called twin Transition are occupying companies with the highest intensity and at a rapid pace. While some companies are achieving trailblazer status, others are finding it difficult to change and therefore lag behind. Digitization is considered a key factor in this context: It can be used to develop data-based, new business models and thus reshape entire value chains – and this will make it possible to realize concepts such as the circular economy. Digital leaders play a pivotal role in this transition because they can increase the confidence of their organizations behind often risky and disruptive initiatives needed to achieve the change. Thus, building trust in the entire organization is becoming a key element. Before this background, it is not enough to adapt existing leadership concepts; a completely new understanding of leadership must be implemented in many areas. We present the practice of digitally developing and digitally mature organizations―particularly those of their leaders, and we present specific trust-building actions of leaders. In addition, we present results from our international study with leaders of successful companies and show what new leadership qualities are driving their success in this highly transformative process we are all in.

Speakers:
Dr. Gerhard Gudergan, FIR at RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
Dr. Haroon Abbu, Business Analytics Initiative, Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA
Prof. Paul Mugge, Business Analytics Initiative, Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, US

The podium discussion will be part of the program for this years conference 

Podium Discussion – How to close the Gap between Science and Industry?

Renowned representatives of the research and business sector will discuss how the gap between science and industry in production engineering can be closed and how we can contribute.

Charity

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Metternich

Head of the Institute of Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools, Technical University of Darmstadt

The high-performance value stream: genuine customer individuality in the shortest delivery time

The keynote will give an overview of high-performance value streams and how individuality is made possible without adaptation effort. The main topics will be the integration of the customer into the value stream and the enabling of value streams for the entire solution space.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rüdiger Daub

Head of the chair of Production Technology and Energy Storage Systems, Technical University of Munich and head of Fraunhofer Institute for Foundry, Composites and Processing Technology IGCV

Emerging research questions in manufacturing technology arising from electromobility

The shift towards electric cars and the rapidly increasing demand for battery cells pose major challenges for manufacturing technology. The keynote will show how the use of methods like artificial intelligence and data analytics can be used to increase traceability, quality and productivity in battery production. It will also highlight how the introduction of new materials and solid-state batteries will impact production systems.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Friedli

Professor of Production Management and Director at the Institute of Technology Management, University of St. Gallen

The Future of Production Systems

For decades the most admired examples when it came to manufacturing stemmed from the automotive industry. Companies like Toyota or later Porsche and Audi became role models for the implementation of lean. However, more recently lean deteriorated in dozens of companies to mere tool boxes neither really engrained in the culture nor in the structure and also the bottom line contribution to success can hardly be identified and described. The future will see a revival of once intuitively understood principles but now scientifically derived and fully integrated. The speech will highlight this development based on data and practical examples.

Charity

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Volker Stich

Managing Director of FIR at RWTH Aachen & Director of Cluster Smart Logistic

The data driven enterprise – How to close the Gap between today`s and tomorrow`s business

Digitalization is one of the most important topics for each company in future. Data is becoming a core business asset and must be included as a critical resource in any strategic consideration.
The presentation will show, what companies have to do now in order to prepare and develop in the direction of a data driven enterprise, what hurdles must be overcome and if this digitalization-journey is the same for every company.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd Kuhlenkötter

Director Chair of Production Systems (LPS) and Director Center of the Engineering of Smart Product Service Systems, Ruhr University Bochum

Challenges in Future Production

The keynote will give an overview of technological developments and how they will effect the management and organization of production processes.
For example robotic based automation, mobile robotics, additive manufacturing and 5G and their influences on the production of the future will be addressed.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Bauernhansl

Director Institute of Industrial Manufacturing and Management (IFF), University of Stuttgart

The Biological Transformation – How the Convergence of Biology & Technology opens up a New Innovation Space for Sustainable Manufacturing

The biological transformation of value creation is the systematic application of knowledge about biological processes with the aim of enabling technology-based sustainable production systems.
Through the transdisciplinary convergence of technologies from the life sciences, engineering and materials sciences, this creates a new innovation space based on so-called biointelligent system architectures.