JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #95 - Special JEC Europe - March 2015 - 38

cluster

Know-how to develop tomorrow's
lightweight production technology
Three years after it was founded, the Germany-based AZL Aachen
GmbH, together with the Aachen Centre for Integrative Lightweight
Production AZL of RWTH Aachen University, counts more than 50
industrial partners and 8 research partner institutes in its network,
representing the entire composites value chain from raw material
producers, over moulders, manufacturing equipment suppliers, Tier 1
and Tier 2 to OEMs.

W

ith its partner institutes active
in various fields of lightweight
production technology (totalling over 750 scientists and 1,100 graduate
assistants) on the RWTH Aachen Campus,
AZL regroups all the required know-how to
help the composites industry develop tomorrow's lightweight production technology.
The institutes' knowledge covers the fields of
textiles (ITA), plastics and composite materials (IKV), production technology (WZL,
IPT, ILT, and ISF), quality assurance and
production-integrated measurement technology (WZL), lightweight design (SLA) and
automotive production (IKA).

RWTH Aachen's unique range of services
to AZL's industrial partners, and to create
synergies in integrative lightweight production
technology, AZL positioned itself in recent
years as a professional, reliable and creative
service provider with a high level of technical
expertise.

Networking opportunities
Dr. Michael Emonts, managing director of
AZL Aachen GmbH and CEO of the Aachen

By
Mona BielMeier
Manager Marketing and CoMMuniCations
aZl aaChen gMBh

Centre for Integrative Lightweight Production
(AZL) of RWTH comments the results of
the first two years of cooperation between
industry and lightweight research & development, "We are very happy to report on a
great, steadily growing international industrial
partnership network. We recorded a very high
participation rate in all activities that we offer
(e.g. annual partner meeting, networking,
definition of joint partner projects, workshops
on specific technical topics, etc.). We are

Two separate entities
AZL consists of two separate entities: AZL of
RWTH Aachen University addresses teaching
activities and basic research and development
of lightweight products, materials, production processes and systems and has access to
the latest full-scale machines and automation
systems. As a service provider partnering with
companies in the field of lightweight production technology, AZL Aachen GmbH offers
industrial services in engineering, consultancy
and project management, networking and human resources marketing, among others.
With the aim to transfer technology from

The RWTH Aachen Campus. In the framework of the German Government's Excellence Initiative, new
clusters will be established on the campus of the RWTH University in Aachen over the next 10 years. 19 new
institutions will be set up on 800,000 m². AZL is one of them. All the necessary lightweight know-how and
expertise are reachable within walking distance.
©RHA, Reicher Haase Architekten

38 jec composites magazine / No95 March 2015
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #95 - Special JEC Europe - March 2015

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