KSB and the Faculty of Industrial Engineering at HMA want to seek innovative solutions for the globally growing food processing market in winter semester 2023/24. 

Kick-Off with KSB will be on Thursday, Septmber 28th 2023 in Room S/R 108 (MARS Collaboration Room).

KSB is one of the world's leading manufacturers of pumps and valves as well as comprehensive services, headquartered in Frankenthal (Palatinate). The Virtual Innovation Player project is being worked on in close cooperation with Dr. Maximilian Panthen.
Maximilian Panthen heads innovation management at KSB and is responsible for identifying and evaluating future potential for the company ("Corporate Foresight"). He and his team also organize various formats to promote the topic of innovation at KSB: Conferences, workshops, lectures or learning formats.

As part of the Innovation and Technology Management (TPM1) course taught by Prof. Dr. Stephan Altmann in the Technical Product Management major, we will work together to understand the market and its structures today and evaluate the most important developments in a target corridor agreed with KSB during the course of the project in the years 2030 and beyond. On this basis, we will derive the future requirements of the market from the customer's point of view and design concrete product and service solutions that offer KSB and partners longer-term options for business development.

Students at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences from all faculties can take part in this project event. In the Faculty W, these are in particular the students in the first semester Master and in the seventh semester Bachelor International. The results can be further developed both at the HMA within the inno.space and MARS offerings within our TransforMA network. In previous projects (e.g. with Lufthansa, BASF or Stihl), students have subsequently carried out internships and final theses at the partner companies.

The kick-off of the project "Future of Food & Beverage Processing 2030+" will take place together with KSB in the last week of September at the beginning of the winter semester 2023/24 as part of the module TPM1 - Innovation and Technology Management.

On June 28, Dr. Matthias Brendel and Marc Brechtel from Freudenberg Filtration Technologies came to Mannheim University of Applied Sciences for the final presentation of our students at the end of the VIP project 'The Future of Protective Gear in Construction 2030+' within the project lecture Innovation and Technology Management (TPM1) of Prof. Dr. Stephan Altmann.
Three teams of students from the Master and Bachelor International in Industrial Engineering, reinforced by exchange students from U.S.A., France, Mexico, Turkey and Sri Lanka, presented their recommendations based on their results to our project partner from Weinheim on this day.
After the teams had primarily developed markets, technologies and the most important trends into a framework for examining future customer requirements in the first phase of the project, they developed concrete problem solvers for the anticipated challenges on construction sites in 2030 and beyond in the second phase. For example, the teams presented two concrete product solutions complemented by digital service offerings. In addition, one team proposed to focus on developing a digital communication and transaction platform.
The project outcome thus provided a small portfolio of longer-term growth options based on differentiated solutions with innovation potential for the construction industry from the students' perspective. In his closing statement, Matthias Brendel said that "the structured analysis by the student teams provided valuable ideas and impetus that Freudenberg Filtration Technologies will now follow up. Marc Brechtel added that "the innovation potentials identified and presented will help define and establish concrete product and service solutions on the market."

On June 27, Wolfgang Weissler from Siemens Digital Industries came to Mannheim University of Applied Sciences for the final presentation of our students at the end of the SED - Strategic Ecosystem Design project for and with Siemens within the project lecture Strategic International Management (IMA) of Prof. Dr. Stephan Altmann.
Five teams of students from the Master and Bachelor International in Industrial Engineering, reinforced by exchange students from France, Mexico, Turkey and Sri Lanka, presented on this day their strategic perspectives to our project partner based on their results from their project work in SS 2023.
After the teams had examined and presented the historical strategic development of Siemens in comparison to selected market competitors in the first phase of the SED project, they developed their own perspectives on relevant strategic opportunities and challenges for these companies in the second phase.
The teams focused on an examination of the relevant ecosystems in which the selected companies face growing challenges from market demands as well as political and legal requirements from governmental and supranational institutions for sustainable business.
Wolfgang Weissler from Siemens thanked the teams for their presentations and stated that his expectations of the students' work were fully met. "My stated goal was to analyze and evaluate the selected companies and their business relationship with Siemens Digital Industries from the perspective of the younger generation, who are now entering their professional lives and will (co-)decide the direction of our industry as decision-makers in a few years. Sustainability, digitalization and ecosystems are things that everyone is talking about, but which are (still) seen and lived differently in today's management of many companies than the generation now coming up imagines. I wanted to have answers to the questions whether we are on the right track today, whether we are setting the right priorities in our decisions and whether perhaps even new business opportunities and models are coming to light that we have not yet considered at all. After the final presentation I can say that all teams presented amazingly good, innovative and coherent approaches and thoughts even considering the short time, the parallel load of other subjects and the limited information available on the internet. Some of them will certainly be adopted into our pool of ideas and thus have good prospects for implementation. I don't think I need to emphasize that I would like to welcome such students to our company as employees soon."
In principle, the students see opportunities in greater collaboration between companies along and across value chains. Digital technologies and data-based products and services in particular offer concrete opportunities for all companies to effectively position themselves sustainably in the future.

Maximilian Panthen heads KSB's global innovation management from the Group headquarters in Frankenthal. He visited us on June 15 and gave us an overview of the tasks of his department. Because Maximilian also has various teaching assignments, including at the HS Reutlingen, he was able to share more than just his portfolio of tasks at KSB with the students of the WING master's program at the HMA. He also skillfully placed the various topics in the general spectrum of tasks of innovation management in larger companies for them.

It was particularly impressive for all participants to learn about the various interlocking program elements that Maximilian Panthen has developed for KSB's global organization with its international customers and markets. Maximilian is not a mechanical engineer but a sports economist and holds a doctorate in business administration, so he brings a different, complementary perspective to his company. This includes identifying the most important trends for the company with their short- to long-term potential, summarizing them and discussing them with operational management to support strategic planning. Various formats bring together the different international locations and allow the company to record and jointly process opportunities and challenges in the various global markets from the perspective of local customers on the one hand, but also with particular attention to regional regulatory and standardization differences, for example. For individual topics, Maximilian Panthen actively involves external partners from universities, from companies and from local authorities. In exchanges with the wider ecosystem, he thus works with the business units to find new opportunities for innovation in products, services and business models for KSB.

Guests from the University of Malaysia Pahang also took part in this visit. Among them was Hanafiah Ahmad, Dean of the Faculty of Industrial Management, with which Faculty W of HMA will offer a joint double degree program from 2025. Maximilian Panthen expressly welcomed our guests. He emphasized how important it is for students to gain international experience and specifically learn about the culture and different needs in global regions in order to be able to think about innovations in their future companies from a holistic perspective.

The company replique is a good example of the successful spin-off of employees from a large company based on their own idea. Max Siebert is the CEO and co-founder of replique. He developed his company in BASF's excubator, the chemovator, and spun it off from there in early 2023. Max Siebert holds a PhD in chemistry and started his professional career at BASF. After many years as a particularly efficient intrapreneur, starting in 2019 Max was one of the first to take the opportunity to develop his business idea, which did not fit BASF's operational business model or strategy, into a startup with model support in the chemovator. Since then, at the latest, Max's main focus has been on being an effective entreprenuer. Since 2023, replique has been headquartered in the startup center MAFINEX next to the HS Mannheim. On May 11, Max joined us at the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management to share his experiences with us.
We had prepared Max Siebert's visit again, so Max knew most of the students' questions in advance. He already included many of the answers in his introduction and his summary of the challenges and the most important success factors of the still ongoing founding phase of replique.
"It was and is particularly important for replique's success that the (founding) team understands each other very well and complements each other very well," is one of the key pieces of information Max Siebert shares with the HMA students that day. This is also one of the key aspects that investors pay attention to, in addition to the product idea and the concrete interest of the market in it. Among the many questions from the students, several asked how Max Siebert deals with the risk of failure? "Founders can also fail. It is important that you face the possibility of failure. Talk about it early on with those around you, i.e., especially with your family, and clarify how you will deal with the whole situation together." Some questions from the students refer to how to determine that an idea is (potentially) good enough to start a business based on it? Max's tip on this surprised some, because Max said very clearly: "Talk to as many people as possible about your idea. On the one hand, you will learn to explain your idea, your product and your business model really well. On the other hand, you will learn from the feedback not only what you can still improve, but also whether many people like the idea. After all, this also includes - your - investors."
Prof. Stephan Altmann, who is also the head of the International Business Engineering program at the HMA, also asked Max Siebert what language is spoken in his company. Max Siebert replied that his many international employees, with whom he continuously develops replique from Mannheim and addresses customers and investors worldwide, generally speak English with each other. Many in his team also speak Spanish. Max is looking for more employees and among them those who speak French well, as many of replique's new clients come from France.
Finally, Max wrote his email address max.siebert@replqiue.io on the board and said goodbye by saying that he would be very happy if the participants would apply to him, among others, for theses or even as employees.

Julian Proelss is head of Business Management in the young and highly dynamic Battery Materials Recycling business unit at BASF. He visited the Faculty of Industrial Engineering as part of the "WING Students Meet Business" series on May 4, 2023 to talk to us about Leadership & People. The students had prepared a prioritized question table on this in advance. Julian Proelss was happy to take up these pre-structured questions and linked these interests with concrete experiences from his soon to be 22-year and constantly developing career at BASF.
At the beginning, the students briefly introduced themselves and told Julian Proelss about their own practical and professional experiences. Julian used these brief insights to make concrete connections to the situations described and to link them to his own experiences. In this way, he was able to make concrete references and give the students comprehensive answers to their questions with a holistic view of the topic. These questions included, among others: "How do you still maintain your authority with a loose leadership style?", "How do you lead not only your own team but also the various stakeholders in the company?" and "How do you motivate your team and keep them engaged and productive - even in difficult situations?"
To make connections between the different situations and challenges for managers, Julian Proelss used a variant of the three target areas of personnel development, which differentiates essential characteristics according to professional, methodological and social competence. In doing so, he emphasized that for him as a manager, it is a matter of ensuring that the team as a whole has these competencies at its disposal, but this does not mean that each individual employee must have a fully optimized profile for his or her tasks. On the contrary, he said, it is regularly the diversity of competencies that is the strength of the team, if the manager succeeds in communicating the value of these differences and making them available to the whole team for the sake of joint success.
Unfortunately, the time was over again much too quickly. In response to Prof. Stephan Altmann's concluding question about how he experienced his visit, Julian replied "I enjoyed being able to share my experiences and ideas on the topic of leadership, guided by the students' various questions. I was particularly pleased with the constant high level of attention from all participants throughout the event. This gives energy that I also like to take with me for my tasks as a manager at BASF."

On May 3, participants in Prof. Dr. Stephan Altmann's Innovation and Technology Management (TPM1) project lecture visited Freudenberg Filtration Technologies in Weinheim. Three teams, including exchange students from France, Mexico, Turkey and Sri Lanka, Dr. Matthias Brendel, Marc Brechtel and Dr. Stefan Kluck presented their results at the end of the first phase of the Virtual Innovation Player project (VIP). In their lecture-based project, students from the Master's and Bachelor International in Industrial Engineering and Management developed options for strategic business development in the construction industry for Freudenberg Filtration Technologies with a view to the year 2030.
Each team presented concrete recommendations for relevant growth areas based on an overview of markets, value creation structures, key companies, technologies, products and application scenarios. In doing so, the junior consulting teams also took into account the impact of key trends on demand, value and supply when assessing innovation potential. The Freudenberg colleagues were very impressed by the systematic approach and the clearly structured and professionally presented research results and recommendations. Mattias Brendel said, "The outside-in perspective of the teams of students allows us to complement our own understanding of the market and technology." Stefan Kluck added, "We look forward to the findings in the next phase of the project, when the students focus on innovation potential based on the user-centric needs analysis."
The second phase of the VIP project follows for the teams after an intensive feedback session and joint planning of the approach with Prof. Altmann. In this phase, he also provides them with the necessary tools and examples for their application with specific reference to the current project task. Everyone is pleased that in the second phase five more project participants from the USA, who are joining the VIP project as part of the joint Summer School with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at HMA, will strengthen the teams.

On April 6, 2023, Christian Eichholtz, VP Manufacturing, Small Ag & Turf, Europe and Asia Asia at John Deere visited us as part of the faculty series "WING-Students meet Business". Christian Eichholtz introduced us to the opportunities and challenges posed by the constantly accelerating transformation requirements for established companies, including John Deere in particular. In a discussion with the students from the MGMT module of the WING Master's program, an intensive exchange ensued in which the students inquired about many of the topics addressed by Christian Eichholtz. Further questions revolved, among other things, around the requirements for the 'set of future skills' for upcoming graduates. Unfortunately, time was then up far too quickly and Prof. Stephan Altmann ended the exchange 15 minutes over the agreed time by asking Christian, with whom he went to the same school in the 80s, how he had experienced the format and discussion. To which Christian Eichholtz replied, addressing the students, "That was a great exchange. I would love to discuss with you more. Your questions showed me how interested you are and you reminded me or help me to look from your perspective and with a fresh view on your, but also on our issues at John Deere. Thank you, I will be happy to come back!

Lufthansa Technik AG and the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management will work together in the summer semester 2020 to identify marketable solutions as part of high-growth business models for Internet connectivity in the aviation of the future. In the course Innovation and Technology Management with the specialization "Technical Product Management" by Professor Altmann, we will work together with the master students to understand the market and its structures today and to extrapolate the most important developments in the time target corridor. On this basis, we will derive future requirements of the market from the customer's point of view, develop concrete digital-based solutions and work out an implementation plan in cooperation with strong partners of Lufthansa Technik.
The kick-off to the will take place on 19.03.2020 at 14:00 in room L112. The project and the lecture are aimed at students in the master's program in industrial engineering.

On January 10, 2020, Prof. Altmann and the master course Innovation and Technology Management (TPM1) were with 20 students for the presentation of the results of the Virtual Innovation Player (VIP) project for the second time at the main plant of ANDREAS STIHL AG & Co. KG (STIHL) in Waiblingen.
Beforehand, Prof. Altmann and the master's students were given a presentation ranging from the "classic" to the most modern chainsaw powered by an electronically controlled combustion engine, as well as an overview of the company's current and increasingly diverse range of battery-based equipment for a wide variety of gardening tasks.
They were then able to test how user training and maintenance work will be digitally supported in the future. To this end, they themselves conducted training for the use of all-cutting rescue saws for firefighters with the help of augmented reality, as well as the maintenance of equipment with the help of illustrated equipment documentation via virtual reality.
After a joint lunch, the student teams presented the results of their project work from the semester. All four teams developed solutions and business models for the generation as well as for the successful marketing in the aftersales area.
Team STIHLvoll and Team Green Thumbs presented digitally based consulting and service solutions for the aftersales market in the field of professional as well as private garden and landscape care. The colleagues from STIHL were particularly impressed by the versatile and at the same time well coordinated solution 'STIHL+' from Team STIHLvoll.
The NoNames team as well as Team WoodBuddies presented digitally based Service-as-a-Product (SaaP) solutions. Professional users and the large group of STIHL dealers in particular could benefit from this in the future. The focus of all concepts is on the effective and efficient use of smart solutions and equipment at the point of use as well as during work preparation and follow-up. With the help of these solutions, small companies in particular could concentrate even better on their core business.
Ingo Hofmann, Head of Aftersales, and Kai Ondraschek, Marketing & Aftersales, STIHL, praised the consistent execution as well as the content-rich results of the project teams. From their point of view, the presentations contained a variety of exciting options for future offerings in the aftersales area of STIHL. Together with the company's communications and recruiting departments, they openly and emphatically invited the students to apply for master's theses and other opportunities at ANDREAS STIHL AG & Co. At the end of the day-long event, Prof. Altmann, on behalf of the students and the faculty of the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, thanked the colleagues from STIHL for their numerous and particularly active participation in the differentiated discussions on the students' presentations.
Prof. Altmann expressed special thanks to the partners at STIHL who had made the project possible and provided exemplary and active support from preparation to completion. This thanks goes in particular to Ingo Hofmann, the project sponsor at STIHL, and Kai Ondraschek and Sebastian Lehmann, who provided the teams with information and advice at all times and coordinated the project optimally on the STIHL side.
The company was highly satisfied with the results of all VIP teams of HS Mannheim. All Students received a certificate of participation from STIHL and Prof. Altmann.

What will the major inner-city construction site look like in 2030? What role will trucks still play here?
How can and how should the offer of today's leading supplier Mercedes-Benz Trucks look for this?

These are precisely the questions our master's students are investigating this semester. At the beginning of the semester, Prof. Dr. Altmann, together with Mercedes-Benz Trucks, kicked off the project "The Future of Construction Trucks" in the lecture "Innovation and Technology Management". The kick-off event shortly after the start of the semester on March 18 began with a small round of introductions in which the experts from Mercedes-Benz Trucks and the master's students got to know each other, exchanged their requirements, but also their expectations regarding this project.
After an introduction to the topic and a wide range of background information on the company and its products, the students had the opportunity to deal with two prepared kick-off topics together with Mercedes-Benz Trucks in two working sessions. On the one hand, they gained an overview of what kind of trucks are used for what tasks on and in front of the construction site and how. Secondly, they were asked to identify trends and evaluate when and how they might influence the construction industry in general and construction site processes in particular in the future. The students and the experts compiled the results of these sessions and presented them to each other.
The carefully prepared and executed kick-off event thus already set a very well-founded starting point in terms of content for the project work to be carried out in the following semester. In the upcoming phase 1 of the project, the students will organize themselves into teams of 5-6 participants each and, based on the cooperation partner's understanding of the market and technology, develop their own 'picture' of the industry, your customers and the current relationships among each other. Special attention will be paid to upcoming innovations as well as to safe as well as uncertain developments that will be particularly important in the future. On this basis, the teams are to present and plausibilize their scenarios for 2030+ by the interim presentation on April 30 at Mercedes-Benz Trucks in Wörth. In phase 2 of the project, which will subsequently run until the end of June, it is then the task of the teams to derive, design and finally present innovative products, services and business models on this basis for the optimal operation of the major inner-city construction site from 2030.
To this end, all three teams will not only learn and apply the necessary research, analysis, evaluation and presentation methods within the framework of lectures and independent work. Thanks to the generous support of project partner Mercedes-Benz Trucks, they will also travel to BAUMA 2019 in Munich together with Prof. Altmann and spend a day there gaining direct and very up-to-date insights into the offerings and technologies of the leading companies in the construction industry.
The kick-off event has once again strengthened the enthusiasm for the challenging and exciting task among all participants. Immediately afterwards, the first discussions began on starting points and ideas on how to proceed further. Accordingly, the students came to the lecture with Prof. Altmann the next day well prepared to plan the first phase of the project together and to get the first overview of the methods.

In cooperation with Harmonic Drive AG and Professor Altmann, an innovation project on the topic of "collaborative robots (cobots)" took place this winter semester 2018/19. Students of Faculty W gained insights into the tasks of a project manager through the "Virtual Innovation Player" project.
A comprehensive analysis of the current market situation and research work on scientific studies formed the basis for tackling the individual project tasks with defined phase objectives.
In doing so, they explored the questions of how collaborative robots are influencing today's working world in different areas such as production, healthcare and work environments, and in which areas cobots are already being used.

"The interplay between innovative ideas and in-depth expertise is a win-win for both sides. We receive scientifically researched information on general market developments. The students, in turn, can benefit from our practical know-how. After all, robotics solutions are playing an increasingly important role for our customers. In addition to classic industrial robots, collaborative robots - so-called 'cobots' - are increasingly being used," says Wilhelm Born-Fuchs, Head of Product Management at Harmonic Drive AG.*
The project ended with a presentation in which the student teams presented their results.
Harmonic Drive berichtete 2018 auch auf ihrere eigenen Seite hierüber.
 

As part of the MGMT - Management & Engineering Skills module, all first semester Master's students met on Friday, October 6, 2023 in the Palatinate for a full day of networking among themselves and with alumni of the WING program from the past 6 years.
During the day, the large group first went together into the Palatinate Forest: from Deidesheim via the Michaelskapelle (see picture), the Heidenlöcher and the Eckkopf finally to the Wallberghütte. There, spinach dumplings and spit-roast fresh from the vine wood grill awaited the students. In the afternoon, groups or teams of students had the choice of either 'exploring' Deidesheim and its cafés in more detail or taking up the challenge of visiting various unknown places in the Palatinate Forest along the Hartrand and finally proving this to everyone else in the evening by taking photos on site. Two teams 'dueled' each other, whereby one actually not only climbed the Deidesheimer Hütte, the Knoppenweth and the Stabenberg Warte, but they also discovered the Sängerklause, the Weiße Kreuz and the Klausenkappelle and were additionally able to locate a field cross.

Finally, all hikers, a bit tired but in a good mood, arrived at their destination at the Ruppertsberger Winzerverein. There they met 10 Alumni of WING MA, who briefly introduced themselves to them after dinner together. Afterwards, they exchanged experiences and individual plans in small groups over water (for the car drivers) and Palatinate wine (for the train drivers) before the participants bid each other a fond farewell. Many students want to stay in lively exchange with the alumni in order to be well prepared with the extracurricular requirements for career starters already during their master studies. Some also already started to consider one or the other practical activity and master thesis topics with the alumni.

For the winter term 2023/24, we have again invited a group of young professional alumni to share their experiences with our new Master students. We will all meet already at the beginning of the term this time for a full day of team building. This means that students and alumni will be able to get to know each other in person first before theys go on exchanging experiences and insights flexibly throughout the term. Students will be asked to summarize their insights briefly for each other at the end of the term.

We also continue and expand the invitations of experienced experts and managers from private and public institutions. In the winter term 2023/24 this will be done in the format of a series of talks called 'Students Meet Business' which will be open to everyone at HMA. Preparations are almost finished and we are expecting seven guests from different business and applied research backgrounds to bring us up to spead on everygreens including leadership, sales, marketing, R&D, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Do you want to get to know our alumni and have the chance to build on the experience of these young professionals while you are still studying for your master's degree? Then don't hesitate any longer and apply for the Masterprogram Industrial Engineering and Management at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences.

The whole team of the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and your lecturer Prof. Dr. Stephan Altmann are looking forward to meeting you! 

Christina has been working for BASF SE at the Ludwigshafen site since 2018. She started her career as a portfolio manager for home care products. In this role, she was responsible for the strategy and investment planning for a product line of the Home Care division and gained extensive experience in this global interface position. Since 2022, she has been a buyer at BASF, responsible for the procurement of raw materials and all related negotiations.

After completing her bachelor's degree (B. Eng.) in biomedical engineering at Ansbach University of Applied Sciences, Christina started the master's program in industrial engineering (M. Sc.) with a specialization in technical product management at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences in 2015. As part of the master's program, she also studied for one semester at Tongji University in Shanghai, China. In 2017, she completed her studies with a master's thesis in cooperation with BASF SE in the field of innovation management.

Melina has over three years of professional expertise in the field of marketing and communications, specifically within the B2B sector.

As a true “Mannheimer” at heart, she has started her academic journey in Industrial Engineering at Hochschule Mannheim in her Bachelor’s followed by a Master's degree, where she specialized in Technical Product Management. During her Master's studies, Melina further solidified her interest in innovation & marketing by conducting her master's thesis on the topic of "Sustainability in 3D Printing within the Aftermarket" at Replique, a startup providing a 3D printing platform for on-demand parts located in Mannheim.

Following the completion of her degree, Melina joined the dedicated team at Replique as the Marketing and Communications Manager, a role she continues to excel in to this day. Melina's skill set encompasses a wide array of interests, ranging from public relations and website development to orchestrating marketing campaigns, fairs and conducting market analysis. Being part of a startup, she has experience in agile methods and navigating in ever-evolving environments.

David joined BASF SE in August 2021 as an engineer in plant design. There, he develops material flow simulations for various brownfield and greenfield projects within the chemical industry.

He completed his industrial engineering bachelor's degree at DHBW Mannheim together with the partner ALDI SÜD. In the in-house coffee roasting plant, he gained experience regarding the economic and technical optimization of production and logistics processes.

As part of his master's thesis in industrial engineering at the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, he switched to the chemical industry. There, he used his experience to develop a digitalization roadmap for logistics processes within BASF SE.

Simon Striegel is an international project and process manager Waste & Recyclable Coordinator at PreZero International GmbH in Heilbronn. Since 2022, he has been regularly on the road for projects in the Netherlands, Spain and Luxembourg.

As a master's student at HMA and working student, he previously gained experience in Global Product Management PLC at ABB Automation Products GmbH in Heidelberg.

Before, Simon studied Dual WING at DHBW Stuttgart with a focus on product and project management as well as research and development with Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG from Künzelsau. During this time, Simon gained experience abroad at DTU Copenhagen in Denmark and during an internship abroad at Würth Uruguay in Montevideo and at Würth Brazil in São Paulo.

Nicolai Stern brings with him a diverse and robust career in technical design and engineering. His path began with an apprenticeship as a technical product designer, followed by a bachelor's degree in project engineering at DHBW Mannheim, which he completed in collaboration with Langnese, part of the Unilever Group. After graduating, Nicolai deepened his knowledge and skills in the industry by working as a development engineer for four years.

The desire to realize his own vision led to the founding of Stern Didactic GmbH and Stern Technic GmbH. As founder of Stern Didactic GmbH, Nicolai has turned his company into a leading provider of CAD training and mechatronic projects for dual education. At Stern Technic GmbH, which he has headed for the past two years, he focuses on the development of tunnel boring robots for laying empty pipes for fiber optics, water pipes, etc.

Nicolai began studying for a master's degree, but dropped out after a year due to the Covid pandemic in order to focus on maintaining his company, Stern Didactic. Despite this challenge, Nicolai has maintained his entrepreneurial goals and remains committed to technical innovation and knowledge transfer.

Daniel has been working in the automotive industry for 8 years developing and establishing new technologies. Today, he is a business developer in technical sales at dSPACE, a company that produces hardware and software tools for the development of ADAS, electrification and more. Since 2020, he has been responsible for his company's business development for radar testing in Europe.

He started his professional life with his dual studies W.ing. Electrical Engineering (2015-2018) at the Technical University of Central Hesse in cooperation with Continental in Frankfurt. Daniel started his master's degree directly afterwards at the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences with a specialization in technical product management (2018-2020), which he completed with his master's thesis on "Market introduction of service products" at STIHL.

In his career, he was able to build up experience in the areas of product management, sales and business development, as well as gaining experience abroad in Shanghai at Continental and later in an internship at Porsche in Singapore during his studies.

Jonathan has more than 5 years of professional experience in product management/owner and new business development at BASF SE. He has relevant industry experience developing and scaling digital business models globally in B2B business and cloud based software development with knowledge in market evaluation, agile product development, change management, and partner & stakeholder management.

Jonathan holds a Bachelor (B.Sc.) in Biomedical Engineering from Lübeck University of Applied Sciences, and a Master (M.Sc.) in Industrial Engineering from Mannheim University of Applied Sciences. In addition, he is an MBA candidate of Mannheim Business School 2025 and will start the study alongside his professional activities in September 2023.

In addition to additional certifications in Business Model Innovation from RWTH Aachen Business School, he has won the BASF Group's Digital Award 2021, among others.

Michael started his professional career in 2012 with a dual study program (DHBW) in the electrical industry and completed it with a Bachelor of Arts. This was followed by a change to the construction industry. During his studies at the HMA in 2017, a contact to the healthcare sector was already established through the specialization subject "Technical Product Management".

Michael wrote his master's thesis at Roche Diagnostics in Mannheim in research and development and finished his master's degree. For a holistic view, a one-year engagement in Strategy & Porfolio at Roche in Rotkreuz followed.

Since 2020, Michael has been working at the management consultancy Arcondis in Switzerland and is active as Head of MedTech CH and Senior Consultant. His expertise is mainly in project management, change management and business/operating modeling.

Daniel has nine years of experience in the powder metallurgy industry in various positions at KOMAGE Gellner Maschinenfabrik KG, a medium-sized manufacturer of powder compacting systems.  

He graduated from the University of Applied Sciences in Trier, with a dual degree in Technical Product Design and Industrial Engineering (B. Eng.), including a semester abroad at Clemson University, S.C., USA. With an online visit to Tongji University in Shanghai, China, he completed the master's program in Industrial Engineering (M. Sc.) with a focus on Technical Product Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Mannheim.

Starting in the design department, he moved into product analysis and management, while being at the same time responsible for managing complex customer projects. Now working in technical sales, he is passionate about promoting the sustainable technology of powder metallurgy as a member of the Council of the European Powder Metallurgy Association EPMA.

Mathias has been working in consulting for more than five years now and supports clients from a wide range of industries in their digital transformation as well as the definition and implementation of their digital strategies.

Directly after completing his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences in 2018, Mathias started as a junior consultant in the field of business intelligence at MHP Management- und IT-Beratung GmbH. Here, he spent the first three and a half years of his professional career and developed, among other things, the ability to act as a link/interface between IT and business, with the goal of understanding and bringing both sides together.

In 2021, Mathias decided to start a part-time Master's program in Management Analytics at Mannheim Business School, which he successfully completed in spring 2023.

In the meantime, he changed employers and has been working at Deloitte Consulting GmbH as a Senior Consultant in the Technology Strategy area since 2022. His core competencies are the development and restructuring of IT organizations as well as the implementation of digital strategies and transformations.

Hendrik has been working as a business consultant and cloud architect with a focus on AWS Cloud for 4 years. His focus here is on the topics of networks as well as cloud security. He works for tecRacer GmbH, an AWS Premier Partner and market leader in AWS training in Germany.

In his current role, he is responsible for planning, managing and implementing customer projects to implement resilient and robust cloud infrastructures. In addition to his professional activities, Hendrik is active as an AWS Ambassador as well as an AWS Community Builder and shares his knowledge with the AWS community via technical blogs, webinars and open-source contributions.

Prior to his professional career, Hendrik completed his bachelor's degree in electrical and information engineering with a focus on communications engineering at HAW Hamburg. To deepen his knowledge in the field of business and management, he decided to pursue a master's degree in industrial engineering with a focus on technical product management at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences.

In his master's thesis at Daimler Trucks, he dealt with machine learning-based analysis of influencing variables on the service life of electric bus batteries.
During his work, Hendrik gained further training in employee leadership, project management and sales, in addition to technical knowledge in the areas of cybersecurity, networking and infrastructure as code.

After work, Hendrik can be found at the bouldering gym, on stage with his theater group, or on the ice-skating rink during the cold winter months.

In the summer semester 2023, our new module MGMT - Engineering and Management Skills will take place for the second time in our Master's program.

We are pleased about the great positive response of the current participants in the first semester of our Master's program to the intensive exchange with alumni of our faculty who have already gained several years of professional experience. 

For the summer semester of 2023, we have again invited a group of our former graduates to share their experiences and have a cozy get-together in Mannheim with our current Master's students.

Do you want to get to know our alumni and have the chance to build on the experience of these young professionals while you are still studying for your master's degree? Then don't hesitate any longer and apply for the Masterprogram Industrial Engineering and Management at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences.

The whole team of the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and your lecturer Prof. Dr. Stephan Altmann are looking forward to meeting you! 

Jana joined Mercedes-Benz Group AG in October 2022 as a deployment planner in the start-up control department.

As part of her bachelor's degree in international industrial engineering (B.Sc.) at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, she already worked as a student trainee in the documentation of the ABAP platform at SAP SE.

In 2021, she switched to the automotive industry, where she led a project to digitalize the main goods receiving department at the Rastatt assembly plant as the focus of her bachelor's thesis at Mercedes-Benz.

After graduating in 2022, she was responsible for project management for the outsourcing of a production supply to an external logistics service provider, also at Mercedes-Benz.

Kim joined Q8 Oils in January 2023 as Senior Sales Engineer.

Previously, she gained several years of professional experience as a project manager and product manager at the lubricant manufacturer FUCHS LUBRITECH GmbH (since June 2022 FUCHS LUBRICANTS GERMANY GmbH).

After completing her bachelor's degree in Project Engineering (B.Eng.) at DHBW in 2016, she led the relocation of a coating center from Munich to Kaiserslautern into a newly built production module as project manager.

In 2019, she moved to the company's product management, while at the same time successfully completing her master's degree in industrial engineering - technical product management (M.Sc.) while working.

Marc brings eight years of professional experience in various positions through collaboration in the FREUDENBERG Group.  In addition to working in sales, application technology and digital business development, he is currently employed as a project manager in advanced product development at FREUDENBERG FT GmbH.

Previously, he studied W.Ing. (B. Eng.) with a specialization in technical sales at the Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg, Mannheim, before successfully completing his master's degree in industrial engineering - technical product management (M. Sc.) at the HS Mannheim.

Marc Brechtel has been an external PhD student at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Potsdam since the end of 2019. He is writing his doctoral thesis on "Designing the Value Proposition of Industrial Data Ecosystems" while working.

Martin has been working at Porsche AG for more than 5 years in various positions in the field of smart mobility and e-mobility. 

He earned his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering (B. Eng.) with a stay abroad in Oxford at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University in Karlsruhe. He completed his master's program in industrial engineering - technical product management (M. Sc.) at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences.

Martin is passionate about new business models. Through his experience from international projects in the context of Data Business, E-Mobility and New Mobility, he is considered an expert in building partner ecosystems.

Tobias has been working as a product manager for lubricating greases at FUCHS LUBRICANTS GERMANY GmbH (previously FUCHS LUBRITECH GmbH) since 2017. From these years, he brings experience in global product management as well as working in complex matrix organizations.

After completing his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering (B.Sc. HS Mannheim 2015) with an internship semester at EvoBus GmbH in Mannheim and final thesis at KSB SE & Co. KGaA in Frankenthal, he decided to pursue a master's degree in industrial engineering with a focus on technical product management.

Today, Tobias Schipper is responsible for the product management team of lubricating greases for industrial requirements as group leader and deputy head of department.

Tevin has already gained 10 years of professional experience in technology-driven industries (aerospace, technology consulting, industry and auto-motive); of which more than 8 years of experience at Panasonic in different positions as dual student, sales engineer and in business unit management. - Prior to that, Tevin studied Business Administration (B.A) in cooperation with Panasonic Industrial as part of a dual study program at the University of Cooperative Education in Lüneburg, Germany, before successfully completing his Master's degree in W. Ing. - Technical Product Management (M. Sc.) at HS Mannheim with a semester abroad at Iowa State University. - Tevin joined Panasonic Industrial in 2022 as Deputy Division Manager for Automotive Powertrain, after having successfully led the business unit for battery management systems for e-vehicles in the same company for 3 years. There, he manages a team of 9 employees and acts as project owner in a 150-person development and industrialization project for battery management systems.

Robin has been active in the construction and supply industry for over 8 years in various positions, where he helps shape the future of the industry.

Robin Degen gained his first relevant experience in construction management during a dual study program at the dual University of Mosbach in cooperation with Schleith Baugesellschaft, which he then deepened as an independent construction and project manager. From 2017-2019, Robin studied industrial engineering - technical product management at the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, in which he also completed a semester abroad at TEC de Monterrey in Mexico.

Robin Degen joined the Innovation Factory at Putzmeister Holding in 2019 as a Corporate Entrepreneur. In his current role, he develops products / business models from initial ideas to market entry. Currently, Robin is further developing and scaling KARLOS, a mobile 3D printer for home construction, which was presented to the world public this year.

Since 2009, Markus has been able to gain valuable insights into various industries (automotive, consulting, production, logistics, education and IT) through numerous jobs during his school and university years.

Markus completed his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in Karlsruhe before successfully completing his master's degree at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences. During his master's studies, he was part of an interdisciplinary innovation project in cooperation with international partners.

Since 2020, Markus has been leading the development of a program for employee-driven innovation for SAP SE. This includes, among other things, the design and implementation of a new, in-house innovation approach including the development of a technical platform.