PROF. DR.-ING. JÜRGEN FLEISCHER

Prof. Jürgen Fleischer studied mechanical engineering and earned his doctorate in 1989 in the field of production engineering at the former University of Karlsruhe (TH), now known as KIT. From 1992 to 1999, following his doctorate, he held various management positions in research, development and production in the Daimler-Chrysler Group. In 2003, he returned to the University of Karlsruhe as Professor and Head of the wbk Institute of Production Science.

From 2008 to 2010, Prof. Fleischer was granted a leave of absence from his university duties in the interest of the state of Baden-Württemberg, as he was appointed "Chairman of the Executive Board" by the company MAG Industrial Automation Systems. In 2010, he returned to KIT as professor and Head of the Institute of Production Science and also served as Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering until 2014. In his research, Prof. Fleischer focuses on manufacturing automation and machine tool engineering. His main areas of interest are mechatronic components and lightweight construction.

Since 2012, Fleischer also holds a visiting professorship at Tongji University in Shanghai, China. Prof. Fleischer is also an active member of several professional organizations and groups: He is a member and chairman of the scientific committee of the German Academic Association for Prodution Technology (WGP), a member of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP) in Paris, a member of the Senate for the field of production science of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and a member of the selection committee for the Baden-Württemberg State Research Award.

JÖRG DITTUS

Jörg Dittus graduated with a Master of Arts degree in "Mechanical Engineering" from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). While completing his studies, he worked as an auxiliary research assistant at the wbk Institute of Production Science. His work there focused on automating the production chain of a resin transfer molding process as well as the production and optimization of fiber composite plastic parts. After graduating in Mechanical Engineering, Dittus stayed on at the institute as a research assistant and, since 2018, has been working there on his doctoral thesis in polymer engineering. In his current research projects, he is concentrating on the field of lightweight construction and additive manufacturing of continuous fiber-reinforced plastics.

DIP.-ING. (FH) MARTIN NEFF

Martin Neff has been with ARBURG since 1996. In his role as project engineer, he was initially responsible for the project management of fully automated production cells for seven years. From October 2003 to January 2007, he was a technical consultant in the "International Technical Support" department for ARBURG's international sales organisations, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

In July 2007, he moved to the US subsidiary ARBURG, Inc. as Project and Engineering Manager, where he headed the engineering department. In January 2010, he took over as Sales and Engineering Manager of the ARBURG Technology Center Midwest in Elgin, IL.

In July 2013, he returned to ARBURG's German headquarters in Lossburg, Germany, and took over as Head of the Technology Consulting Plastics Free Moulding Group. Since the beginning of 2017, he has been responsible for the development of the freeformer's machine and process technology as department manager.

Bilder v.o.n.u.: wbk Institut für Produktionstechnik / KIT | Daniel Kuntze / die FotoFabrik | ARBURG GmbH + Co KG