Production at the Leading Edge of Technology Proceedings of the 11th Congress of the German Academic Association for Production Technology (WGP), Dresden, September 2021

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd-Arno Behrens studied Mechanical Engineering at the Leibniz University of Hannover and received his doctorate in 1997 in the field of solid forming. Subsequently, he took over a leading position in industry. Since October 2003 he heads the Institute for Forming Technology and Machines. In addition, he is spokesman of the board of the Material Testing Institute for Materials and Production Technology (MPA) in Hannover since 2004. In 2005 he also assumed the function of managing partner of IPH - Institut für Integrierte Produktion + Hannover gemeinnützige GmbH. He is among others, speaker of the Collaborative Research Center 1153 "Tailored Forming", as well as member of the SFB 653 and location speaker of the TR73. He is a member of the Scientific Council of the AIF, he leads the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Umformtechnik in Germany.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alexander Brosius studied Mechanical Engineering at the Technische Fachhochschule (TFH) Berlin and received his doctorate from the TU Dortmund in 2005. In 2010 he became an Assistant Professor “Modelling and Simulation in Forming Technology and Lightweight Construction” at the TU Dortmund. Since 2012, he holds the professorship for Forming Manufacturing Processes at the TU Dresden, where he also is Director of the Institute for Manufacturing Technology since October 2018. Prof. Brosius is a member of the Scientific Society for Production Technology (WGP) since 2018 and an Associate Member of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP) since 2019.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Welf-Guntram Drossel studied Information Technology and Technical Acoustics at the Technische Universität Dresden and obtained his doctorate in the field of simulation of forming processes in 1998 at the Institute for Metal Forming at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. In 2004 he gained a teaching position at the Technische Universität Chemnitz in Machine Tools – Mechatronics, became Associate Professor in 2006 and was appointed to the full professorship of Adaptronics and Functional Lightweight Design in 2014. He has also been Director of the Fraunhofer-Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology since October 2014. Prof. Drossel is an Associate Member of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP) and Board Member of the European Research Association for Sheet Metal Working. He is also consultant for several Science Foundations.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Hintze studied Mechanical Engineering at the TU Braunschweig, where he became research assistant working on gear grinding and dressing. In 1985 he moved to the TU Hamburg (TUHH) and received his doctorate in 1990 dealing with the model-based chip break assessment. Subsequently, he was responsible at Krupp Widia for the development and rapid prototyping of indexable inserts, the test field and demonstration center. In 1999 he took over the production engineering department of IPMT at the TU Hamburg. His main areas of research include machining technologies for lightweight structures, e.g. for CFRP and titanium, and extremely hard machining as well as digitalized machining systems. Since 2008 he is in a research cooperation with Fraunhofer IFAM and has developed innovative solutions for the automated production and assembly of large structures on a scale of 1:1. Since 2009 Prof. Hermann Lödding and Prof. Wolfgang Hintze lead the IPMT together.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Steffen Ihlenfeldt studied Mechanical Engineering at the TU Braunschweig and received his doctorate from the TU Chemnitz in 2012. In 2015 he took over as head of the Chair of Machine Tools Development and Adaptive Controls at the Institute of Machine Tools and Control Engineering (IWM) – now the Institute of Mechatronic Engineering (IMD) – at the TU Dresden. Since 2016 he is also head of the Department of Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU and a member of the German Academic Association for Production Technology (WGP).

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Nyhuis studied Mechanical Engineering at the Leibniz University of Hannover. He obtained his doctorate in 1991 at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA) under Prof. Wiendahl. In 1999 he completed his habilitation in the field of production logistics. From 1999 to 2003 he worked for Siemens AG in the SPLS Supply Chain Consulting devision. As a partner, he was responsible for supply chain management and supply chain design. In 2003 he was appointed to the Leibniz University of Hannover. As Managing Director of the IFA, he represents the research and teaching fields of factory planning, production logistics, production design and labour science. Since 2008 he has also been managing partner of the Institut für integrierte Produktion Hannover gGmbH (IPH). Prof. Nyhuisis a member of the Scientific Society for Production Technology (WGP), the Academic Society for Work and Industrial Organization (WGAB) and of the Academy of Engineering Sciences (acatech). Since July 2020 he has been Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Leibniz University Hannover.