University Darmstadt
Department of Product Lifecycle Management
Otto-Berndt-Straße 2
64287 Darmstadt
Germany
Phone: +49 6151 16-6001
www.plcm.tu-darmstadt.de

Head of department
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Benjamin Schleich

Date of foundation
April 1st, 1993

Members of research staff: 22
Employees: 3
Trainees: 2
Student research assistents: 100
Bachelor students: 1.400
Master students: 400

Strategy / Vision for PLM

PLM is paving the ground for companies to gain comparative advantages in today’s challenging, global and dynamic markets. PLM is one of the driving factors and an essential pillar enabling companies to successfully transform innovative ideas and customer requirements into marketable new products. The future challenges mainly regard the methodological development of PLM, incl. decision support, comprehensive information management, compliance assessment and service orientation.

Core competencies / main areas of education

• Virtual product development (CAD, CAx process chains)
• Process, data and information modeling
• Object-oriented programming (MatLab, JAVA)
• Distributed and collaborative work (Simultaneous
• Engineering, Concurrent Design, distributed product development)
• PDM/PLM
• Digital factory
• Interdisciplinary product development (mechatronic  and adaptronic systems as well as smart engineering)

Main areas of research

• Virtual product development (CAD, CAx process chains)
• Process, data and information modeling
• Object-oriented programming (MatLab, JAVA)
• Distributed and collaborative work (Simultaneous Engineering, Concurrent Design, distributed product development)
• PDM/PLM
• Digital factory
• Interdisciplinary product development (mechatronic  and adaptronic systems as well as smart engineering) 

Cooperations

• Universities: Viginia Tech, USA; Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba, Brazil
• Long-term alliances and cooperations with leading companies from automotive, aerospace and agricultural machinery industry and companies from the mechanical and plant engineering sector
• Scientific associations: Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Produktentwicklung – WiGeP, acatech, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz

Industry projects

Industrial projects, regarding DiK’s research foci, with distinguished representatives of automotive, aerospace and agricultural machinery industry, leading companies from the mechanical and plant engineering sector as well as vendors and consultancy firms of the engineering-it sector.

Industry partners

Notable representatives of the automotive, aerospace and agricultural machinery industry, leading companies from the mechanical and plant engineering sector as well as well-known vendors and consultancy firms of the engineering-it sector.