Connecting Science & Industry – History of the conference
With a rich history in the field of lightweight construction for automotive body applications, both the Werkstoffsymposium and Future Automotive Production Conference have been at the forefront of advancements in this domain. As early as 2020, the focus of these conferences began to shift towards the concept of closed-loop production and the exploration of sustainable materials. This shift marked a significant turning point in their trajectory, as they sought to address the pressing need for environmentally conscious manufacturing practices. Building on their legacy, in 2022, the two conferences joined forces for the first time under the roof of the MobileLifeCampus (MLC) in Wolfsburg. This collaboration aimed to foster even greater knowledge exchange and collaboration in the pursuit of a circular manufacturing route. Looking ahead to 2024, these conferences will continue to deepen their commitment to sustainability and circularity, coming together more closely under the new label of the Circularity Days.
OHLF – Our Backbone
The conference is based at the OHLF (Open Hybrid Lab Factory), which is a public-private-partnership campus, located in Wolfsburg. Technische Universität Braunschweig, Fraunhofer, and different industrial partners work together on innovative solutions in terms of closed-loop production technologies.
MLC – The Venue
The conference takes place at the MobileLifeCampus in Wolfsburg. The conference takes place from the 15th Till G. 16th of May 2024. On the evening of the first conference day, we welcome you to our evening event at the Phaeno, which
is located at Wolfsburg central station.
Our Sponsors
Matplus offers the end-to-end digitization of material information. An interdisciplinary team of materials experts, physicists and computer scientists develops customer solutions with practical added value. Operational and strategic competitive advantages are created by integrating usable data and knowledge across departmental boundaries:
– Matplus EDA® is a scalable integration platform that provides data, information and knowledge on materials across all locations on the intranet – from production to processing to product engineering: simple, open and adaptable.
– JMatPro® is a unique solution for the calculation of material data and material cards for metallic structural materials
– MatGlobe® is a collection of reliable material databases as the basis for in-house knowledge management. To achieve this, Matplus relies on partnerships with recognized institutions.
Matplus supports the design and implementation of cross-company solutions – in the cloud or as a local installation with integration into the system architecture with interfaces to PLM, CAE, ERP.
Mubea is a lightweight specialist in the automotive and aviation industry. We are the market leader in many segments of the spring industry and achieved a remarkable global presence in the past years. Today we realize 2.9 bn € turnover with 14,000 employees worldwide at 50 production, sales and development sites. Mubea’s growth is based on technical innovation strength and the continuous expansion of our customer base. Vertical integration from raw material to end product and expertise in the internal development of products and production processes are particular features of our company. The owner-managed family business from Attendorn in the Sauerland region of North Rhine-Westphalia has been in existence since 1916.
We are Bertrandt.
An independent and international development service provider with long years of automotive expertise. With cross-industry know-how and a holistic understanding of systems and products, we create technological solutions at any stage of the product development process. We focus on trend topics such as digitalization, e-mobility and autonomous systems, mainly for the automotive, aerospace and mechanical engineering sectors, and consistently facilitate the development of tailored solutions in these areas. Our goal: to accelerate technological progress and make a relevant contribution to a sustainable future. We work on this every day – with over 14,000 employees and more than 50 sites worldwide.
Thermal direct joining by hyJOIN® enables quick and reliable metal plastic connections without additive materials like screws or rivets. The smart alternative to adhesive bonding can be applied for both point and media-tight connections and can be flexibly adapted to a wide range of assembly tasks in the automotive & mobility, electronics and medical technology sectors.
KIST + ESCHERICH’s hyJOIN® portfolio includes the development of customer processes, the production of prototypes and the design and manufacture of joining machines with varying degrees of automation.
Circular economy at the research campus OHLF
In the Open Hybrid LabFactory (OHLF), well-known industrial companies and scientific institutes cooperate within public and private partnership to optimize the circular economy for vehicles.
Embedded in the German government’s Circular Economy Strategy, the OHLF is developing technologies that will make recycling more efficient in the future. This includes, for example, the fully automated dismantling of End-of-Life battery systems from electric vehicles or the use of recycled material from post-consumer plastics components. Therewith the OHLF develops solutions for a sustainable production and mobility.