Industrial Engineering

Industrial Engineering deals with the optimization of complex production and service processes. The aim is to improve the economic efficiency and productivity of a company or its divisions.

In order to be able to carry out an optimal design of complex operational processes, an integrative consideration of man, machine, material, equipment and financial resources must take place.

Increasingly, information technologies play a role in operational processes. Thus, these systems gain additional complexity.

Industrial engineering comprises the qualitative and quantitative analysis of operational processes and their optimal design in terms of economic efficiency and productivity.

Logistics Management

Logistics management takes on the task of organizing, managing, planning, processing and controlling all necessary material and goods flows as well as the associated information flows along the entire value creation process with the aim of designing the supply chain in such a way that customers can be supplied with the right product cost-effectively and on time. Overarching coordination of information and material flows is necessary both within and across companies, since companies are increasingly distributing their value creation globally and the volume share of intercontinental supply chains is constantly increasing.

This makes it clear that logistics management is a highly complex and flexible subject that is continuously confronted with new challenges and thus has to develop new approaches to solutions on a permanent basis.

Current research work is concerned, for example, with the development of a solution algorithm for the optimization of production planning under consideration of logistical parameters, with the development of generally valid models and decision maps for production logistics, as well as with the increase of traffic flows on inland waterways - in particular the Danube.

Production- and Quality Management

In order to survive in global competition, unique products and defect-free, efficient processes are a decisive differentiating factor. Increasing competitive pressure demands a targeted analysis of the company's situation and environment with regard to its own quality position, as well as the formulation of quality-related goals. The resulting tasks go far beyond the scope of conventional quality control. These tasks are much more strategic in nature.

In addition, the market is subject to constant change, which forces companies to align their production in such a way that it can be adapted to the permanent change. In order to meet the requirements, a systematic approach in combination with creativity is necessary. The individual levels of production management are responsible, among other things, for the collection, compression and archiving of all relevant process data, which are required for monitoring, quality assurance, optimization and maintenance of the production facilities.

Current research projects in the area of production and quality management are dedicated, for example, to the development of a real-time-based maintenance control center to ensure product quality and plant availability, with the development and implementation of solutions for energy-efficient manufacturing systems, as well as the development of a customizable production platform to enable the manufacture of products using AMT-based printing processes in an industrial environment.