History in a nutshell

In 1998, the study program Global Production Engineering (GPE) was the first international postgraduate master program of the TU Berlin. The program was started with a particular focus on the education of bachelor engineers in the engineering and management of production technologies. Soon it became evident to adjust our course portfolio to meet the demands of the ever-growing solar industry.

In 2008, GPE divided its courses into two specializations: GPE Manufacturing and GPE Solar Technology.

In 2015, the focus of GPE Solar Technology was expanded to further renewable energy technologies such as wind, hydropower or bio energy. The specialization was re-named to GPE New Energy Technologies. 

GPE Intake 2017

The formerly known specializations “GPE in Manufacturing” and “GPE for New Energy Technologies” have been merged since October 2017. Energy is the fundamental element of every industrial activity, and we all know, that due to the increasing global population and increasing wealth, energy might get shorter. Renewable energy offers wonderful chances of coping with this challenge. So, we are addressing the renewable energy generation as one of the main activities besides the manufacturing in our courses.

In particular, we integrate relevant courses of engineering and management for renewable energies into the manufacturing curriculum. This merge enables all students to gain access to the specialized courses on the renewable energies. We offer now a wider range of courses to be selected by our future students. Individual specializations are still available and depend on the composition of the modules chosen.

Scope of GPE

The GPE program promotes technical competencies in production engineering disciplines, global value creation, development of manufacturing processes and tools, factory planning, production control, logistics and global supply chain management, sustainability, modeling and simulation, quality control, technology management, economic evaluation and global management. The degree program offers comprehensive qualification in booming renewable energy technologies, such as photovoltaics, wind energy and hydropower. Relevant aspects from the production of renewable energies components, up to management, financing, law and marketing aspects are addressed.

Global Production Engineering is a highly practical study program

GPE gains its excellence from a strong science cluster in Berlin as well as co-operations with leading companies in the industry. The highly practical component of the study program enables students to make contact with company representatives so that they can identify new developments in the industry and match their curriculum with the required qualifications. Practical experience will be achieved through:

• Contents of teaching e.g. Six Sigma Yellow Belt, SAP R3 and SAP APO Trainings, Lean Production Certificate, Supply Chain Management, MTM 
  
  
• Lectures by industry representatives e.g. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Schacher (former Volkswagen AG, director of production; founder of GEDAS, today subsidiary T-Systems), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karl-Heinz Bendak (Daimler Benz AG, former director of foreign factories), Dr.-Ing. Frank Szimmat (Head of Quality at Bosch Rexroth Asia & Pacfic), Dr.-Ing. Bahadir Basdere (Plant Manager of TACR)

• Industrial projects e.g. Siemens AG (power supply), Airbus AG (aircraft business), Management Engineers (Consulting), Volkswagen (automobile industry), Bosch (industrial solutions) 

• Visits to different companies e.g. Volkswagen AG (automobile industry), Daimler, Porsche, BMW, Faulhaber, Siemens, Bayer, Blohm+Voss (ship building), Dieffenbacher (presses), Gildemeister (machine tools), Miele (household appliances), BASF, or exhibitions e.g. Hannover Messe, Inter Solar, New Energies Forum Feldheim

• Our cooperation partner for Solar is the renewables academy RENAC. They provide access to the New Energies Technologies Training Center. The goal of the Training Center is to demonstrate the functions of both individual elements as well as entire facilities for renewable energy technologies, thus giving students a consistent practical reference in their instruction. The center is equipped with the most modern simulation and real-life equipment, measuring instruments, as well as standard software for projects development. It enables students to better understand the principles of renewable energies technology and to work with equipment and tools typically used in the industry.

Global Production Engineering is research oriented

The high competence in research results from the strong ties and integration of the study course with other institutes of the TU Berlin. Through the engagement and the initiative of students new ideas can emerge and approaches in science can be improved. There are many possibilities, like cooperation in research projects, project-oriented exercises, a job as a student assistant, internships or writing a Master Thesis to gain insights into the state of the art of research and development and to follow a career in research in the field of the student's specialization. Many other features also ensure achievement of knowledge in state of the art research developments:

• Presentations about up to date research results e.g. Prof. Dr. Nabil Nasr (Rochester Institute of Technology, USA), Prof. Dr. Henrique Rozenfeld (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil), Prof. Dr. Mitchell M. Tseng (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China), Prof. Dr. Amory Lovins (Rocky Mountain Institute, USA), Prof. C. Scheffer (Stellenbosch University, South Africa), Prof. S. Kara (University of New South Wales, Australia), Prof. Dr. Takata (Waseda University, Japan) and many more.
• Integration of up to date research projects into the curriculum e.g.: Disassembly factories for the recovery of resources in product and material cycles; CRC 1026, Collaborative Research Center, Sustainable Manufacturing – Shaping Global Value Creation; Energy Efficiency; Product-Service-Systems, Maintenance-Repair-Overhaul, 
• Integration of GPE Students as student research assistants and GPE alumni as research engineers (at present approx.10 GPE student research assistants and approx. 5 GPE research engineers are employed at institutes of the TU Berlin)

GPE Students have completed their internships in a variety of internationally highly respected companies especially in the mechanical and electrical engineering industry.

The interdisciplinary cooperation is established through the three faculties as well as research facilities which are involved in the management and organization of the study course. Research facilities which are engaged in the study course are the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, the Production Technology Center Berlin and the Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum for information technology in Berlin.

Download the GPE flyer!