Research program

The research program of GSaME consists of six research clusters.

The guiding principle of the Graduate School is to continuously advance the scientific foundations of advanced Manufacturing Engineering by outstanding research in combination with the research-based training of highly motivated and excellent young scientists from different research disciplines for science and industry.

The underlying objective is to create a comprehensive system covering technical, methodical and organizational solutions and tools to establish a new paradigm in industrial manufacturing.

Production systems and factories that differ from existing ones in performance and efficiency, that are transformable and can adapt to turbulent environments, are the central focus of the interdisciplinary and cooperative doctoral program to qualify young academics for manufacturing in the future.

The basic idea of the GSaME approach is to ensure high-quality research in the field of advanced Manufacturing Engineering, quality in training and mentoring of doctoral researchers, interdisciplinary collaboration with international partners from academia and industry, and an individual profile in strengthening professional and leadership skills.

Research Clusters

Cluster director: Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Bauernhansl

Based on the conceptualized Stuttgart Enterprise Model as well as the principle of holism this Cluster focuses on a development towards »Sustainability in and through manufacturing enterprises« with special regard to the balancing factors economic, ecological and social effectiveness and efficiency. In order to be able to create the basic model for Factories of the Future within this fixed framework, it is necessary to analyse and evaluate the megatrends with respect to the need for transformation and adaptability of manufacturing systems. On this basis, respective strategies are to be developed which allow to methodically and technologically explore the optimal use of material, energy, and other resources for sustainable factories. Cluster A especially focuses on the integration of »knowledge« as a whole and specifically on progressive Industrial Engineering, simulation of factory processes, and the further development of the already existing concept of the learning factory.

Cluster director: Prof. Dr. rer. pol. habil. Georg Herzwurm

Against the background of global megatrends such as globalization, networking or individualization, the manufacturing industry is facing new challenges in the future. There are already several generic concepts in order to meet these challenges and to develop the plant of the future. For instance there is a need to be able to react to economic turbulences in a proper and flexible manner, whereby a change in the production is observable coming from linear and streamlined supply chains to global production networks. Managerial, technical and social aspects are very important for the development of the future plant. By the growing influence of the information and communication technology and by the global networks governance and diversity concepts, management of costs and skills as well as the business models and business model components such as value proposition, value dissemination, value capture have to be analyzed in detail, evaluated and eventually redesigned. The research cluster B “managing networked global production” is concerning with these exemplary themes. The impacts of the information and communication technology and the globalization on business-, production processes as well as on production systems and production machines of the traditional factory are explore in this cluster. Further concepts and recommendations to create the plant of the future are established. A special focus receive the subject- areas: management, services, cultural diversity and sustainability.

Cluster director: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Bernhard Mitschang

Agility and changeability are key requirements for manufacturing companies in today’s highly competitive and turbulent environment. Fully leveraging the »real-time factory« requires an improved agility of business and manufacturing processes, increased collaboration and integration of life cycle phases and comprehensive management of complexity. Thus, existing information and communication technologies have to be enhanced to enable self-adapting and self-optimizing processes by means of real-time information processing across different levels, from the machine and sensor level until the process and enterprise level.
Cluster C focuses on developing novel approaches, methods, software architectures, digital tools, systems and technologies supporting advanced manufacturing engineering activities based on information and knowledge resources. The Cluster aims to investigate these topics in cooperation with colleagues from the other clusters of the GSaME and in particular with industry partners.

Cluster director: Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Oliver Riedel

New technologies and services constitute fundamental drivers of innovations, e.g. of new products and improved production processes. Therefore research foci of knowledge-based management and networking in manufacturing are connected to the new Cluster “Equipment and Service Engineering”. The Cluster D “Equipment and Service Engineering” emphasizes the importance of the knowledge-intensive aspects of development of tools, flexible equipment and services for manufacturing. There is an ever increasing need for intelligent tools, processes and interdisciplinary, cooperative solutions which facilitate the fast flow of development and production-relevant information through processes. Besides, these new technologies and services that are relevant to the company need to be transferred quickly to the development of production systems.
Especially by creating equipment, tools, fixtures and devices before the ramp-up of new products, substantial competitive advantages can be gained during the manufacturing engineering process. This can only be achieved through the cooperation of the various actors along the process chain. In particular new approaches are derived in the area of networked production (manufacturer and equipment supplier).

Cluster director: ord. Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dr. h. c. mult. Rainer Gadow 

The innovative development and processing of materials today is aimed towards functionality of the application concerned, energy efficiency, sustainability, resource optimisation, profitability and safety. These issues are becoming increasingly difficult yet important for multimaterial systems, mixed constructions and hybrid technologies, which are therefore in the focus of materials and process engineering in GSaME: e.g., fibre and coating composites, design measures implemented by innovative forming and machining processes, advancing miniaturisation, functional integration into components and the design of distinctive core and surface functional characteristics. As an enabler for this extensive requirement profile, a process technology not only has to be sustainable, it must also be flexible, adaptable, interface-compatible and capable of being integrated into process-chains.

The field of process development to manufacture lightweight components by forming, shaping and machining of light metals, composite materials, sandwiches and multi-layered structures is one focus of cluster E. Process technologies need to consider a closed cycle management of scarce raw materials and highly value added, semifinished products. Further on, manufacturing technologies for producing miniaturised components will be an important market in the future and a challenge for manufacturing industry. Thereby, processing of micro-nano composites, smart materials (especially sensor and actuator materials as well as materials capable of damage monitoring, shape change or self-healing) and material combinations in micro-systems are investigated in cluster E. Similarly, injection moulding is a technology platform for cooperation within the cluster. With the aim of developing knowledge-based systems in materials and process engineering for distinct materials and exemplary processes, process monitoring, metrology and process modelling appear as important research fields in this cluster.

Cluster director: Prof. Dr. phil. nat. habil. Thomas Graf  

Intelligente Produktionseinrichtungen bilden die Grundlage für Industrie 4.0 und die Personalisierung und Digitalisierung der Produktion, da sie eine flexible, vernetze, wandelbare und ressourceneffiziente Fertigung von Produkten ermöglichen. Das Cluster „Intelligente Produktionseinrichtungen“ erforscht die dazu notwendigen Konzepte und Methoden. Intelligente Fertigungseinrichtungen überwachen Prozesse, erkennen Veränderungen automatisch, reagieren in geeigneter Weise, und adaptieren sich und die Prozessführung an neue Produktionsanforderungen. Sie überwachen und regeln ihren internen Zustand genauso wie den der durchgeführten Prozesse, sagen die Notwendigkeit von Instandsetzungs- und Instandhaltungsmaßnahmen voraus und unterstützen die Maschinenbenutzer durch zweckmäßige Diagnosemeldungen. Außerdem reduzieren sie den Bedarf an Ressourcen durch Steigerung der Produktivität und der Bearbeitungsqualität bei geringem Verbrauch an Material und Energie. Die Forschungsthemen des Clusters umfassen alle Aspekte intelligenter Produktionssystemen, von den maschinenbaulichen Komponenten bis zur Diagnose, Überwachung und Regelung von Prozessen und Fertigungsanlagen sowie deren Einbindung in die übergeordneten Wertschöpfungsketten.

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