Solutions for the industry

Apart from brief stints at ABB and MSC MARC in Palo Alto, you have worked at ETH Zurich for the past 40 years. First in the former Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIIA, and for the past 15 years as Head of the Institute of Virtual Manufacturing (IvP). What were your most exciting projects?

Clearly the digitalization of manufacturing technology. I have accompanied and helped develop this technology - especially in the area of metal forming - from the very beginning.

One of our most important projects was a software solution for sheet metal forming, the FEM program AutoForm, which we first presented in 1991 at a conference of the VDI engineering association in Zurich. This later gave rise to the spin-off external page "Autoform Engineering", which is now one of the world's leading companies for FEM software tools for sheet metal forming.

In addition, we pursued many other projects in the field of virtual process modeling, from material modeling to process planning to AI-based quality monitoring. It was very important to me in all these projects that the solutions are applied in practice and take the industry a step further.

What did you enjoy the most on a personal level?

The most interesting thing was actually the development of the digital forming technology. Thanks to the excellent environment at ETH Zurich, we have always had the freedom to pursue our ideas and realize them in close cooperation with the industry. That was unique.

What situation from your time at D-MAVT will you always remember?

The moment when we were able to demonstrate the enormous computational speed of our software at the VDI conference in 1991. The representatives of the automotive industry were thrilled, in stark contrast to CRAY, a company specializing in supercomputers. CRAY was a co-organizer of the conference at the time and they were not very pleased about the significant reduction in computing time.
By the way, this conference laid the foundation for today's internationally established Numisheet conferences on sheet metal forming technologies.

What will you miss most after you retire?

The opportunity to realize new ideas, as well as the great freedom and personal responsibility that one has as director of an institute.

What should young scientists definitely do?

They should not only build a scientific network, but should also be in contact with the "real" world and the industry. Research must always bring economic or other social benefits. The number of publications is not the measure of all things.

What are your plans for the near future?

I have moved to inspire AG, a competence center for technology transfer at ETH Zurich, and am enjoying having more time for technical tasks again. I am also still involved in the Innosuisse project "Increasing efficiency in the development and optimization of tool systems for the production of metallic bipolar plates by using new tool concepts and new process-specific simulation tools".

What should not be missing from your desk in the future?

Definitely a cup of coffee. But I also don't want to live without the daily, always interesting discussions with the doctoral students and the industry.