David Herberger was team leader and research associate in the Factory Planning Division at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA) at Leibniz Universität Hannover from 2016 until 2020. Dr.-Ing. David Herberger previously studied mechanical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Marco Hübner was a research associate in the Production Management Division at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA) at Leibniz Universität Hannover from 2015 until 2020. He previously studied mechanical engineering at Leibniz Universität Hannover with exchanges at The University of British Columbia (UBC) and Keio Unitversity in Tokyo.

Thomas Bauernhansl has been head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart and the Institute of Industrial Manufacturing and Management at the University of Stuttgart since 2011. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bauernhansl is author of many books and member of many scientific societies. Both the digital and the biological transformation of value creation are core research fields in his institutes.

Thomas Friedli has been professor for Production Management at the University of St. Gallen since 2004 and is director of the Production Management division at the Institute of Technology Management. Prof. Dr. Thomas Friedli is also head of the TECTEM Benchmarking Centre where scientific knowledge is transferred into real life solutions. The key areas of his research are in the fields of global production, smart manufacturing & services and operational excellence.

Rüdiger Daub has been head of the Chair of Production Technology and Energy Storage Systems at IWB at Technical University of Munich and at the Fraunhofer Institute for Foundry, Composites and Processing Technology IGCV since 2021. Previoulsly Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rüdiger Daub has held several positions at BMW Group Munich, most recently as head of technology development and prototype construction for lithium-ion cells.

David Gillen has been professor of Transportation Policy and director of the Centre for Transportation Studies in the Operations and Logistics Division at Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia since 2005. The research interests of Prof. Dr. David Gillen are industrial organization, corporate and management strategies, competition policy, transportation and regulatory economics, aviation and air transport economics, urban transportation, travel demand analysis, choice modeling, application of management economics to transportation policy and planning, performance and productivity analysis, economics of strategy.

Christoph Herrmann is university professor for Sustainable Manufacturing & Life Cycle Engineering and co-director of IWF, Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology, Technische Universität Braunschweig as well as director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST since November 2018. Since 2009 Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christoph Herrmann leads the Joint German-Australian Research Group on “Sustainable Manufacturing and Life Cycle Engineering” together with Prof. Sami Kara from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney.

Bernd Kuhlenkötter was responsible for the product management and technology at ABB Robotics Germany until 2009. In 2009, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd Kuhlenkötter took over the Professorship for “Industrial Robotics and Production Automation” at the Technical University of Dortmund. Since 2015, he holds the professorship of “Production Systems” at Ruhr University Bochum. In parallel, he is the vice president of the Academic Society for Assembly, Handling and Industrial Robotics (MHI e.V.).

Joachim Metternich has been head of the Production Management division at the Institute of Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools (PTW) at Technical University Darmstadt since 2012. Previously, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Metternich was head of the worldwide lean production system at Knorr Bremse, head of a manufacturing group at Bosch Diesel in Jihlava, Czech Republic and assistent of the managing director of production at Trumpf.

Peter Nyhuis has been head of the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA) at Leibniz Universität Hannover since 2003. Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Peter Nyhuis was a member of the German Science Council (2014-2018) and has been Chairman of the Science Council of the AiF (GAG 3) since 2015. He is also a member of the German Academy of Technical Sciences acatech and the Scientific Society for Production Technology (WGP).

Annika Raatz has been leading the Institute for Assembly Technology (MATCH) at Leibniz University Hannover since 2013. Previously, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Annika Raatz was head of the Assembly and Production Automation Department at the Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology (IWF) at the TU Braunschweig, where she independently coordinated courses, research projects and industrial partners. Her key research areas include Soft Material Robotic Systems, precision assembly and automated assembly and disassembly.

Günther Schuh has held the Chair of Production Systems at the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) at RWTH Aachen University since 2002. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Günther Schuh is also a member of the board of directors of the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT and director of the Research Institute for Rationalization (FIR) at RWTH Aachen University. He is the initiator and managing director of RWTH Campus GmbH and founded, among others, the Schuh & Co. Group.

Volker Stich has been the head of the Institute for Industrial Management (FIR) at the RWTH Aachen University since 1997. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Volker Stich has worked for 10 years for the St. Gobain-Automotive Group and led the management of European plant logistics. In addition he has been responsible for the worldwide coordination of future development project. His research focuses on operations management, logistics and business applications systems.