VPE TU Kaiserslautern

Scientific employees: 10
Employees: 3
Trainees: 0
Student assistents: 20
Bachelor students: 400
Master students: 250

Strategy / Vision for PLM

One focus area of our research of the chair is in the area of Smart Systems Engineering, which deals with the modeling and validation of smart products and services in the context of modern application scenarios within the Industrial Internet of Things. Another focus topic is the integrated life cycle management of physical products and their virtual product twins. This includes approaches and IT tools for the preparation and feedback of product usage data into product development processes as well as for the integrated management of physical product instances and virtual product models. Our third focus area is Smart Engineering Visualization, which involves interdisciplinary collaboration and interaction with virtual product models, involving all relevant actors, especially product users.

Core competencies / main areas of education

• PLM/PDM Competence
• Interdisciplinary Product and process modeling
• Systems engineering as part of a modern construction methodology
• Sustainable product engineering
• Engineer’s future work place (Multi-Touch, Mobile Interaction)
• Human factors in the product engineering
• Engineering in reverse
• ICT for the  engineering
• Entire engineer education (after RFLP)
• Specialist and methodological competence
• Social-communicative skills
• Decision-making skills
• Practice-oriented learning

Main areas of research

• Interdisciplinary product and process engineering
• Functionality extension of PLM-Solutions
• Systems Engineering (Process integration RLFP)
• Sustainable product engineering
• Importance of human factors in the product engineering

Cooperations

• ProSTEP iViP Association
• Scientific society for engineering design and product development –  WiGeP
• The Design Society – a worldwide community
• Virtual Vehicle Competence Center (ViF)
• Center for Commercial Vehicle Technology at the
• University of Kaiserslautern

Industry projects

Alongside with the core scientific work the institute offers consulting and further services. That gives enterprises the possibility to use the latest scientific knowledge for solution of industrial problems:

• Optimization of PEP
• Evaluation and review of PLM Implementations
• Workshops about new methods, processes and IT-solutions in the product engineering
• Support of the standardization of data exchange and visualization
• Acceptance management (Change Management) in the implementation of new processes and/or new IT methods

Industry partners

Leading industrial companies from following sectors:

• Automotive Industry
• Aerospace Industry
• Machinery and Plant Engineering
• Appliance Industry