Mourning for Dr. Alfred Lampl

Hon.-Prof. DI Dr. Dr. mont. h.c. Alfred Lampl remained closely connected to the company ENGEL even in retirement. The owner families and employees of ENGEL mourn a great person. (Image: ENGEL)

The owner families and employees of the ENGEL Group mourn their former Technical Director. Honorary Prof. DI Dr. Dr. mont. h.c. Alfred Lampl passed away in October at the age of 89. Dr. Lampl shaped the technical innovations of the injection molding machine manufacturer for 25 years and, as part of the founding generation, was significantly involved in developing ENGEL from a ten-man operation to the today’s globally present system provider.

"Without Dr. Lampl, ENGEL would not be what it is today," acknowledges Dr. Stefan Engleder, CEO of the ENGEL Group, praising the deceased's achievements. "We, the owner families, the employees of ENGEL, and many engineers, owe him a lot."

Alfred Lampl joined the company in 1968 initially as Technical Director, responsible for machine design, application technology, development, and mold making. At the beginning of 1986, he took over overall responsibility for engineering and production as Technical Director, a position he held until his retirement in 1993. In retirement, Dr. Lampl remained closely connected to ENGEL as an advisor.

Holmless Technology Among Alfred Lampl's Achievements

Ever since, Dr. Lampl pursued the strategy of developing new products always in response to customer wishes. To this day, strong customer orientation remains a fundamental guiding principle of research and development at ENGEL.

The holmless technology, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, is among his major achievements. Together with Georg Schwarz and the then Head of Design Heinz Leonhartsberger, Dr. Lampl broke with the construction principle that, until the 1980s, was considered unchangeable—that the clamping unit of an injection molding machine must have four uprights. The innovative holmless design quickly became the dominant machine type at the Schwertberg plant and remains the most in-demand ENGEL product today. "We didn't expect this success at the outset," Dr. Lampl revealed five years ago on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the holmless design.

"Dr. Lampl possessed the outstanding ability to listen and to distinguish important from unimportant. He managed to find answers to seemingly unsolvable questions," says Engleder. 32 patents and patent applications testify to Alfred Lampl’s great ingenuity and visionary thinking.

Pioneer of Injection Molding Technology

At the request of Prof. Werner Knappe, co-founder of the field of plastics engineering at Montanuniversität Leoben, Alfred Lampl took on an additional teaching assignment in 1973 for machines and tools for injection molding at ENGEL in Leoben. In his dissertation, which he completed at Montanuniversität Leoben with a doctorate in 1982, he dealt with the development of a process model for injection molding with toggle clamping units. Renowned camera manufacturers early on used his knowledge for the production of plastic lenses.

In recognition of his special achievements, Montanuniversität Leoben awarded him the honorary professorship in 1986 and the honorary doctorate of mining sciences in 1999. Dr. Lampl was the recipient of the H.F. Mark Medal as well as the gold honorary pin of the Austrian Plastics Processors Association (VÖK).

"Dr. Lampl was a person who was passionate about technology and could inspire others with it. He has influenced several generations of engineers," says Stefan Engleder. With Dr. Lampl, the plastics industry loses one of its great pioneers of injection molding technology.