The Georg Menges Award

The Georg Menges Prize was first awarded in 1999 to mark the 75th birthday of Georg Menges, who was head of the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) for many years. Georg Menges would have been 100 years old at the end of last year. The prize named after him is now in its 25th year and has been awarded in memoriam since 2022 The donors of the prize continue to pursue Georg Menges' central idea that research and industry necessarily belong together and that a constant exchange of information between science and industry is essential to achieve innovation. The award of the George Menges Prize acknowledges the continuous transfer of knowledge by the prizewinners, which helps to shape the future of the plastics industry in a particular way. The award is traditionally presented during the course of the International Colloquium Plastics Technology, which is staged every two years by IKV.

Dr.-Ing. Karlheinz Bourdon is the first Georg Menges Prize winner whose professional roots lie at IKV. As a student assistant at IKV during his mechanical engineering studies in Aachen, he was introduced to the subject of injection moulding machines, which would subsequently determine his entire professional life. His first important station was his doctorate at IKV in 1989, and the following year he joined KraussMaffei as Head of Systems Engineering, where he set the first technological milestones in the field of automated mould changing and robot removal systems. After transferring to Ferromatik Milacron, where he was last responsible for the global plastics business as President Global Plastics Machinery, he primarily drove forward the development of all-electric injection moulding machines. In 2008, he returned to KraussMaffei as Managing Director and CEO Injection Moulding Technology and took over the position of Vice President Technologies of the Injection Moulding Technology segment in 2012. With the acquisition of the KraussMaffei Group by ChemChina in 2016, he became Senior Vice President Integration and was responsible for the integration of ChemChina's existing mechanical engineering companies into the KraussMaffei Group. Karlheinz Bourdon has since moved to the Supervisory Board of the KraussMaffei Group and is also a member of the Advisory Board of Pöppelmann GmbH & Co. KG.

During his career, Karlheinz Bourdon has been involved in numerous committees, the VDI, the German Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association (VDMA), the European Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association (EUROMAP), the Südwestmetall Employers' Association, as well as in research at Fraunhofer and, last but not least, the IKV.

Die Stifter des Preises sind der Fachverband Gummi- und Kunststoffmaschinen im Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, PlasticsEurope Deutschland e. V. sowie die Vereinigung zur Förderung des Instituts für Kunststoffverarbeitung. Sie sind der Überzeugung, dass nur über Forschung und die konsequente Umsetzung der gewonnenen Ergebnisse in die Wirtschaft neue, innovative Produkte entstehen. Die kontinuierliche Transferleistung der zu würdigenden Preisträger gestaltet die Zukunft der Kunststoffindustrie in besonderer Weise.

Link to the News: https://www.ikv-aachen.de/en/news/news-details/news/news/detail/karlheinz-bourdon-awarded-with-georg-menges-prize/

  • Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karlheinz Bourdon (2024)
  • Dipl.-Kfm. Ulrich Reifenhäuser (2022)
  • Dr. Markus Steilemann (2020)
  • INTRA e.V. (2018)
  • Dipl.-Ing. Hartwig Meier (2016)
  • Dipl.-Ing. Günter Hofmann (2014)
  • Dipl.-Ing. Herbert Kraibühler (2012)
  • Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dr. h.c. Hartwig Höcker (2010)
  • † Dr.-Ing. Erwin Bürkle (2008)
  • † Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h. c. Gottfried W. Ehrenstein (2006)
  • Prof. Dr.-Ing. Helmut Potente (2004)
  • Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Rolf Lidl (2002)
  • Dr.-Ing. Volker Hülck (2000)
  • Dr. Kurt Weirauch (1999)