Outstanding work in the field of warehouse technology was honored with the Innovation Award 2021. The focus is on the aspects of sustainability.
For over 35 years, the Foundation has been promoting science, research and teaching in the field of mass storage technology (symbolic image).
Photo: PantherMedia / cookelma
The Schaeffler FAG Foundation awarded six young scientists with the Innovation Award 2021. Your PhD and MSc theses on storage technology were previously selected by a specialist jury from among all submitted papers.
“We were once again impressed with the quality of the submitted work,” said Andreas Hamann, Chairman of the Board and Director of Human Resources Europe at Schaeffler, an automotive and industrial supplier. The speakers from the company at the celebrations at the “Kugelmühle” restaurant in Schweinfurt were impressed by the quality of the excellent work.
Thomas Fußhöller, Director of Sustainable Development, Environment, Medicine and Occupational Safety, explained in his speech that innovation and sustainability go hand in hand. The foundation creates an important bridge between business and science. “Your discoveries will help make our products and processes in particular more sustainable,” said Fußhöller, addressing the young scientists.
Three of the six award winners were able to take part in the ceremony at Schweinfurt. In the group photo (from left): Sascha Zaps, Regional CEO Europe, Joschua Weber, Peter Schuster, Managing Director of the Foundation, Dr. Dani Bechev, Claus Bauer, Finance and IT Director, Christoph Zobel and Andreas Hamann, Chairman of the Foundation’s Council.
Photo: Schaeffler
The concepts and methods developed showed that the award winners dealt intensively with the challenges in industrial enterprises. Fusshöller added: “Electrifying the drives, extending the product life cycle or reducing energy consumption by reducing friction are just a few examples.” The corporate strategy of Roadmap 2025 also emphasizes the importance of sustainable actions for Schaeffler.
prof. dr inż. Tim Hosenfeldt, Head of Central Research and Innovation at Schaeffler, said: “We optimize our products not only in terms of performance, availability and cost, but also in terms of sustainability throughout the entire life cycle.” as solutions shown in the works – an important role.
Awards in the categories of doctorate and master’s thesis
dr inż. Dani Bechev for the thesis entitled “Research Methodology for Characterizing the Electrical Properties of Rolling Bearing Greases.” Until now, there were no standards or methods for testing the electrical properties of lubricants under operating conditions similar to rolling bearings – Dani Bechev developed the appropriate methods.
To Dr. Florian König was awarded a second prize for his Ph.D. entitled “Prediction of the Behavior of Oil Lubricated Plain Bearings in Mixed Friction Operation.” The main issue was the innovative combination of numerical calculations to detect wear at an early stage. Both winners then presented their works to the invited guests.
Another second award went to Dr. Eng. Max Marian (“Numerical interpretation of surface microtextures for lubricated tribological contacts”). The Foundation honored Joshua Weber, Laura Zieher and Christoph Zobel for their theses.
Application for the Future Technology Award is open until July 31st
“The goal of our foundation is to support science, research and teaching in schools, colleges and universities in the field of storage technology,” said Andreas Hamann, adding: “So far, more than a million euros of funds have been committed.”
In addition to the Innovation Awards, the foundation has two other lines of funding. To keep young people excited about technology and relevant professional fields at an early age, school support in the Mainfranken region supports interdisciplinary projects. In addition, since 2020, the foundation awards the “Future Technology Award” every two years. Highly innovative research projects from universities, colleges or individual faculties and departments are supported here. The call for proposals is currently open until July 31, 2022.
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