The Institute for Forming Technology GmbH (IFU) in Lüdenscheid is a commercial institute supported by companies in the field of forming technology. The institute's main customers are companies in the sectors of cold and sheet metal forming. The work of IFU is divided into the following areas:

• Material technology and laboratory
• Organisation and Management
• Seminars and in-house training
• Operation of the AZ training centre

The AZ Training Center of IFU is a unique facility in Germany for the qualification of employees and machine operators on cold forming presses and thread rolling machines for the fastener industry. Most of the machines used for training are equipped with modern process monitoring systems from schwer + kopka.

We regularly give specialist lectures as part of the IFU seminar programme. In the training centre we educate the apprentices in the use of the systems for process monitoring.

Since 1994 we are members of the

• Trägergesellschaft Umforminstitut Lüdenscheid e.V. and the
• Trägergesellschaft Ausbildungszentrum e.V.

www.ifu-lued.de

Institute for Forming Technology (IFU)

University Stuttgart

Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h. c. Mathias Liewald MBA

The Institute for Forming Technology (IFU) at the University of Stuttgart was established in the winter semester 1958/59. Since then, numerous research projects and development work in the fields of sheet metal and massive forming, the development of new forming processes, the design and realisation of new forming equipment and much more have been carried out in the laboratories and premises of the institute.

Every two years, the IFU, in cooperation with the Research Society Forming Technology (FGU), organises the successful international conferences "New Development in Sheet Metal Forming (NEBU)" and "New Developments Hydro Forming (NEHY)" in Fellbach near Stuttgart. At NEBU 2016, we from schwer + kopka were represented with a specialist lecture on the topic "Industry 4.0 in forming technology". We will also be contributing in 2018 with a lecture on "Machine Condition Monitoring 4.0".

www.ifu.uni-stuttgart.de

MPA / IfW

Technical University Darmstadt

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Oechsner

The Center for Construction Materials, consisting of the State Material Testing Lab Darmstadt (MPA)  and the Institute for Material Science (IfW), represents a highly efficient technical-scientific unit in research, teaching, development, testing and consulting at the Technical University Darmstadt as an independent competence centre for the entire field of materials technology in mechanical and plant engineering as well as traffic engineering, medical technology and the construction industry.

Currently, we at schwer + kopka are actively involved in a joint research project of the German Fastener Manufacturer's Association (DSV) on the topic of "Surface defects on threads" in the committee accompanying the project. The project is processed by the MPA / IfW.

www.mpa-ifw.tu-darmstadt.de

Institute for Production Technology and Forming Machines (PTU)

Technical University Darmstadt

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirtsch. Ing. Peter Groche

The Institute for Production Technology and Forming Machines (PTU) is one of the institutes of the faculty of mechanical engineering. Today forming technology is one of the important industrial basic technologies and of enormous importance to our modern industrial society. In research and teaching, PTU intensively examines questions concerning new processes and machines as well as microscopic phenomena. PTU is active in research areas around new press technologies and production processes, but at the same time also creates links to fundamental questions.

We at schwer + kopka regularly collaborate with the PTU in research projects and collective research with industrial partners. For example, the BMBF joint project RobIN 4.0 under the leadership of the PTU was recently completed successfully. The aim of the group was to make the process chains of forming technology more robust. Through the integration of sensors, an intelligent data processing with corresponding interpretation and an interaction between elements of the value chain, these goals could be achieved and the course towards Industry 4.0 could also be set.

Together with manufacturers of formed and stamped parts, amongst others, we at schwer + kopka were able to contribute to the success of RobIN 4.0.

www.ptu.tu-darmstadt.de