The focuses of the award-winning works of the young engineers reflect the strengths of German textile machinery construction: the sector is particularly strong where high-quality applications and products are concerned.

Creativity awards for the cleverest bachelor or project work

Janina Elser, TU Chemnitz, Abdelrahman Elbayoumi, ITA Aachen, and Hendrik Pötzsch, ITM Dresden, were honoured with creativity awards for the cleverest bachelor or project work. The prizes are endowed with 3,000 euros each.

Ms. Elser's bachelor thesis dealt with the prototypical development of circular knitted knee bandages. The subject of Mr. Elbayoumi's bachelor thesis is a feedback control system for an over-braiding process. Mr. Pötzsch’s project work deals with the production of carbon fibres using solvent wet spinning technology.

Diploma/master thesis

Tim Kaluza, ITM Dresden, and Julia Eckert, ITA Aachen, were awarded two promotion prizes in the category diploma / master thesis with prize money of 3,500 euros each. Mr. Kaluza’s diploma thesis deals with the automated production of mesh-free multiaxial fabrics.

In her master thesis, Ms. Eckert developed an environmental assessment system for the production of jeans.

Dissertation

This year, the promotion prize of the German Textile Machinery Industry in the dissertation category was awarded to Dr. Stefan Heinrich, TU Chemnitz. The prize is endowed with 5,000 euros. The result is a fundamental work on gear requirements in textile machines, which will make a greater contribution in engineering practice.

Walter Reiners Foundation – Recruiting and promoting talent

Through its Walter Reiners-Stiftung (Foundation), the VDMA Textile Machinery Association is actively involved in promoting young engineers. Every year, the foundation awards prizes for the best dissertation, diploma or master's thesis and creativity prizes for clever bachelor's and semester theses. Through financial support for university excursions to VDMA member companies and to the leading trade fair ITMA, it provides students with regular insights into practice. The Internet portal talentmaschine.de and the homepage of the Textile Machinery Association (under the heading Young Engineers) provide information on the occupational field of textile machinery, the activities of the foundation and excursion reports by students.