Dr. Stefan Kruppa will become the new Head of the Machine Technology department at KraussMaffei. He will take over from Dr. Reinhard Schiffers, who will succeed Prof. Dr. Johannes Wortberg as Chair for Design and Plastics Machines at the University of Duisburg-Essen on September 1.Since 2010, Kruppa has been working as a development engineer and project manager in the Machine Technology department at KraussMaffei. In 2015, he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Duisburg-Essen with a thesis on the "Adaptive process control and alternative injection concepts for the injection molding of thermoplastics". Kruppa sees the aim of his new task above all in the development of new intelligent systems and solutions for injection molding machinery. Within this framework, he will also be in charge of activities involving Industry 4.0 for the Injection Molding Machinery segment, which KraussMaffei brings together under the name Plastics 4.0. "We are delighted to have gained the services of Dr. Kruppa, an experienced developer and visionary in digital plastics processing, as Head of the Machine Technology department. Due to his excellent personal and technical skills, he will help to strengthen and expand this important business unit for KraussMaffei," said Dr. Hans Ulrich Golz, President of the Injection Molding Machinery segment at the KraussMaffei Group and Managing Director of KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH.
The current Head of the Machine Technology department, Dr. Reinhard Schiffers, will leave KraussMaffei on August 1. Schiffers has been at KraussMaffei since 2009, initially in Research and Development, and since October 2012 as Head of the Machine Technology department. With his appointment as Professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen, he will return to an old stomping ground: This is where Schiffers studied mechanical engineering and, in 2009 under Prof. Wortberg, submitted his Ph.D. thesis on "Improving the process capability in injection molding by using process data and a new screw stroke control system". For his dissertation, in 2009 he received the Brose Prize for new methods and technologies for processing plastics from the Wissenschaftlicher Arbeitskreis Kunststofftechnik (WAK) (Scientific Alliance of Plastics Technology). "In recent years, Dr. Schiffers has played a major role in shaping and promoting development and machine technology at KraussMaffei. For this, we sincerely thank him and wish him all the best for his professional and personal future", Dr. Golz added.
