12.8 million euros, 36,000 square meters in size: a new institute has opened on the TUM campus in Garching: the Fraunhofer Foundry Technology Center.
Garching
- The campus in Garching continues to grow.
The foundry pilot plant of the Fraunhofer IGCV (Institute for Foundry, Composite and Processing Technology) was opened yesterday.
In the future, research will be carried out here on cast parts for a number of industrial sectors.
The IGCV's headquarters are in Augsburg.
On July 1, 2016, the Fraunhofer branch “function-integrated lightweight construction”, resource-efficient, mechatronic processing machines and the foundry work group at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) began work as a new Fraunhofer facility in Garching.
Four years later, the Fraunhofer Institute for Foundry, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV was converted into a Fraunhofer Institute.
"We started with one employee, today we move into the new building at the age of 14, eight of whom want to do a doctorate, and twelve student assistants who write their work here," explained Steffen Klan, Head of the Foundry Technology Department at the IGCV.
"Reminds me of a modern aircraft hangar"
"This hall perfectly reflects the 5000-year-old foundry technology, the status of today and the future," said Klan.
Institute director Wolfram Volk referred to new tools, new materials and new processes that would be tested here.
“It's not just about light metal, steel and iron also continue to have their place.
We want to develop products with higher added value, sustainably and at realistic prices as Made in Germany, not as cheap copies from China, ”Volk opened the technical center.
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Opening committee: (from left) Erwin Flender (IGCV Board of Trustees), Raoul Klingner (Director Research Management Fraunhofer), Anette Ganssmüller-Maluche (Vice District Administrator), Wolfram Volk (Institute Director IGCV), Thomas Hofmann (TUM President) and Carsten Intra (Board Member VW Commercial Vehicles ).
© Bert Brosch
The new technical center was built on the 36,500 square meter site for around 12.8 million euros.
It offers space for research on 3,000 square meters on four floors.
"It reminds me of a modern aircraft hangar with a large glass front," said Carsten Intra, CEO of VW Commercial Vehicles in Hanover. "This is a great interdisciplinary research location that further enhances the Garching campus." Industry: “15 percent of cast parts are used in automobile and commercial vehicle construction.
Casting makes cars drive and production systems run. ”That is why a modern research institute that combines foundries, composite construction and process engineering is extremely important for Germany as a business location.
"There is no such center anywhere else."
Proximity to TUM
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Work samples: Several castings made in the new IGCV.
© Bert Brosch
The director of research management at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Raoul Klingner, had previously highlighted the spatial and personal proximity to TUM. “We are very happy about the great, great neighborhood on campus.” TUM President Thomas Hofmann also argued in the same direction: “When I did my habilitation here in chemistry, we still called Garching Garching-Sibirsk because there was simply nothing here gave on the weekend or evening. Today we have 25,000 people working on campus, a subway, a growing city, and soon five Max Planck Institutes, physics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, astrophysics, chemistry, ESO, quantum engineering. ”Such a concentration According to Hofmann, there is nowhere in Germany of the highest excellence. "We have to join forces, bring in good researchers from all over the world and keep them",stressed Hofmann. “This closeness and short distances create collaborations and top science. This is exactly where the Fraunhofer IGCV fits. "
You can find more news from Garching and the district of Munich here.