"PRODUCT DESIGN CANNOT BE LEFT TO THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT"

How has the importance of industrial and product design changed? How strong is nature's influence on product design? And: what role plays design in terms of communicating technological change? Klaus Klemp, Professor of Design Theory and History of Design at HfG Offenbach, gives answers.

AUTOMOBILE DESIGN EVOKES EMOTION

Design combines functionality and aesthetics, design is emotional, particularly when it comes to cars. Motorists who think a car is ugly are unlikely to buy it and drive it. So how will the changes to the drivetrain influence automobile design? VDMAimpulse asked design experts.

DRIVES ARE CHANGING

Hybridization and electrification are picking up speed. What this means for added value in the drivetrain is the subject of the VDMA study "Drives are Changing" ["Antrieb im Wandel"].

TRADE POLICY REACHES A CROSSROADS

Free trade is essential for the existence of mechanical engineering. Exports account for around 77 percent of the German sales of 224 billion euros (2017). 660,000 jobs depend directly on these exports. More than one third of exports already go to countries with high import barriers.

TRADE AFTER BREXIT: A MATTER OF CAKE AND CHERRIES

The European Union and the United Kingdom have to define their future trade relationship after Brexit in March 2019. Even basic problems remain unsolved. A Brexit without a free trade agreement is not inconceivable.

"MOSCOW IS READY TO USE PROTECTIONISM"

As the largest agricultural country in the world, Russia's demand for machinery is extremely high and the state wants to meet this demand primarily through the use of domestic technology. As a result, Russia's continuing protectionist policies are hitting the international agricultural machinery industry hard.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: READY, STEADY, GO

The international innovation contest in the field of artificial intelligence within an industrial environment is rapidly gaining momentum. For mechanical and plant engineers from Germany, it is becoming increasingly important to quickly develop the potential of this technology.

UNDERSTANDING LEIBNIZ'S THOUGHTS

The great polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz noted his thoughts and ideas on countless pieces of scrap paper - an immeasurable wealth of knowledge as paperwork in the most literal sense. Using digital reconstruction, the Leibniz Puzzle project is set out to shed some light on his ideas.

WHO WAS LEIBNIZ?

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was one of the most important philosophers and universal scholars of the late 17th and early 18th century. He was a German philosopher, mathematician, diplomat, historian and political advisor of the early Enlightenment. Leibniz was born in the summer of 1646 in Leipzig. He died in November 1716 in Hanover.

COVERED IN DUST, BUT STILL CUTTING EDGE

Machines that have been "made in Germany" still dominate the global coal mining industry today. But how does largely automated mining work at depths of 1,200 meters?

DESIGNED FOR GREEN DRIVING

Limiting global warming and curbing greenhouse gas emissions are the main goals of the Paris climate agreement. Electric cars can contribute to achieving these goals. VDMAimpulse investigated the various options available for electric cars and took a closer look at two specific models: the Sion and e.GO Life.

IN SEARCH OF THE BEST SOUND

Sleep seems a million miles away. The night feels like a furnace, without even the slightest breeze. An air conditioning system could provide some relief, if only it didn't make such horrible noise. Making the sounds of such devices more agreeable is the current research interest of junior researcher Carolin Feldmann.