Fritz Klocke receives industry award for industrial toolmaking

Professor Fritz Klocke at the award ceremony at the Moulding Expo in Stuttgart. (Source: Messe Stuttgart; Photo: Uli Regenscheit Photography)

The publisher moderne industrie awarded the industry distinction for outstanding lifetime achievements in tool, model, and mold making to the institute director of Fraunhofer IPA, Professor Fritz Klocke, on May 23rd at Moulding Expo in Stuttgart. He received the award in recognition of his contributions to toolmaking, especially as long-standing head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen and holder of the Chair for Manufacturing Process Technology at the WZL of RWTH Aachen.

The industry award honors pioneers in tool, model, or mold making. A highly qualified jury, consisting among others of representatives from the German Association of Tool and Mold Makers e.V., the German Engineering Federation (VDMA), and the Association of German Machine Tool Manufacturers e.V., unanimously selected the Aachen-based production engineer as this year's recipient. The honorary medal was presented to Professor Klocke during Moulding Expo at the "Future Forum" for Tool and Mold Making by Richard Pergler, Editor-in-Chief of the trade magazines "Werkzeug & Formenbau" and "Fertigung".

In addition to the Fraunhofer coin and medal, the Otto Kienzle Memorial Coin of the Scientific Society for Production Engineering (WGP), the Eli Whitney Productivity Award of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and honorary doctorates from the universities of Hanover, Thessaloniki (Greece), and Tokyo (Japan), the industry award is another significant recognition of Fritz Klocke's achievements.

Experienced Engineer and Distinguished Scientist

After studying manufacturing technology, Fritz Klocke initially worked as a research associate and senior engineer at the Institute for Machine Tools and Manufacturing Technology at TU Berlin. After earning his doctorate in engineering in 1982, Klocke worked in industry for several years. On January 1, 1995, he was appointed university professor at the Chair for Manufacturing Process Technology at RWTH Aachen, and was also appointed to the board of directors at the WZL of RWTH Aachen and became head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT. Since July 2018, the production researcher has been jointly leading the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Automation IPA with Professor Thomas Bauernhansl.

From 2001 to 2002, Klocke served as Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen, and from 2007 to 2008, he was President of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP). At the end of 2012, he was inducted into the College of Fellows of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), which also awarded him the Eli Whitney Productivity Award. Since 2014, Klocke has also been a Fellow of RWTH Aachen.

Future Forum for Tool and Mold Making

The honorary medal is awarded every two years during Moulding Expo at the "Future Forum for Tool and Mold Making." The Future Forum is organized by the publisher moderne industrie and offers knowledge, impulses, and insights into trends and developments for tool and mold making. Topics range from the future of toolmaking to buyers' expectations of toolmaking companies to injection-molded component design.