At RWTH Aachen University, 19 professors together with their Chairs and Institutes have combined to form a unique joint project to conduct top-level research under the Excellence Program initiated by Germany's federal and state governments. In this five-year project, which is being sponsored to the tune of EUR 39 million, the team will research organisational and technical approaches that will enable manufacturing companies to assume a pioneering role on the competitive global market.

In particular against the backdrop of an increasing shift of production activities to eastern European and Asian countries, the scientists will investigate, for example, at the conditions under which companies in high-wage countries like Germany can successfully and sustainably develop and manufacture their products. How, for example, can such enterprises consistently increase their added value and minimise the planning and preparatory activities, which, although necessary, do not contribute to added value? Or how do they manage the balancing act between ever more individualised customer wishes and cheap mass production?

It is precisely these questions – or Polylemma – that the Aachen Excellence Cluster will try to answer. The prime objectives of the Cluster are to establish principles for sustainable production strategies and theories as well as approaches for technologies that are needed to realize them. The following essential research areas have been identified:

• Individualisation,
• Virtualisation,
• Hybridisation and
• Self-optimising production.

Please read more about IKV participation in the Cluster of Excellence in the following paragraphs.

To the website of the Excellence Cluster