Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries

  Peter Winandy

25 RWTH professors from the field of materials and production engineering, along with several affiliated institutes and Fraunhofer institutions, are involved in the Cluster of Excellence “Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries.” The cluster investigates production technologies with the help of which the competitive disadvantage of high-wage countries in production can be overcome.

 

Background and Objectives

Modern production technolgy contributes to the wealth and social stability of high-wage countries.

More than 30% of European workers and employees are employed by the manufacturing industries. Today, however, due to dynamic global developments, manufacturing companies are facing increasingly difficult boundary conditions that represent economic, environmental, and societal challenges.

Maintaining the Manufacturing Industries in High-Wage Countries

25 RWTH professors conducting research in the area of Materials and Production Technology as well as several Affiliated Institutes and the Fraunhofer Institutes collaborate in this cluster, aiming at contributing to the maintenance of production in high-wage countries.

With regard to the economy, the focus is on products targeted at both niche and volume markets. Solutions to the problems under investigation require a fundamental new understanding of product and production technological contexts.

The Cluster of Excellence aims developing the fundamentals of a sustainable production strategy and theory, as well as the necessary technological approaches. Based on the scientific analysis of the so-called polylemma of production technology,

• individualization,
• virtualizationm hybridization, and the
• self-optimization of production technology

were identified as areas to be addressed. Research activities at these levels require a direct participation of the German manufacturing industries. Several internationally renowned enterprises have already expressed their interest and willingness to provide real-world business and industry cases from a broad range of industrial production technology fields.

With this Cluster, the Aachen Production Technology institutions have established the „Aachen House of Production,“ which consolidates the University' production technology-related competencies. 

In this way, RWTH Aachen University, which already is one of the world’s leading enineering research institutions,  will further enhance its core competencies and invites leading scientists of production technology and highly qualified young scientists to join research and teaching at the University.