Detlef Zuehlke (born 1949 in Bad Pyrmont) is a German engineer and professor.
Career Zühlke studied Electrical and Computer Engineering at the technical university RWTH Aachen. In 1983, he obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering (robot programming) at the Machine Tools Laboratory (WZL) at Aachen's university. From 1985 to 1991, he worked for German Lufthansa AG, where he held several management positions such as head of the aircraft maintenance department.Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c. Detlef Zühlke . In: uni-kl.de, retrieved August 14, 2017.
From 1991 to March 31, 2017, Zühlke held the chair for Production Automation (pak) at the Technical University Kaiserslautern. There, he founded the Center for Human-Machine-Interaction (ZMMI) in 1998 which provides research and services in the area of the design of human-machine-systems for industrial applications. Pionier der Industrie 4.0 feiert 25-jähriges Dienstjubiläum. In: idw-online.de, March 31, 2016, retrieved 2 January 2020.
From 2009 to May 31, 2017, he was Director of the Research Department “ Innovative Factory Systems” at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) GmbH.Langweilig wird's sicher nicht . In: Die Rheinpfalz, March 31, 2017, retrieved July 4, 2017.
Zühlke is the main initiator of the Technologie-Initiative SmartFactory KL e.V. founded in 2005 as a non-profit association. It is an Industrie 4.0 network of industrial and research partners who jointly carry out projects regarding the factory of the future. SmartFactoryKL is a manufacturer-independent demonstration and research platform. Here, innovative information and communications technologies and their application are tested and developed in a realistic, industrial production environment. The technology, supported by the participation of its members, has established pragmatic solutions, first products, and common standards.Industrie 4.0, as seen from ground zero. In: advancedmanufacturing.org, January 16, 2017, retrieved August 14, 2017.Ministers Gabriel and Dreyer attend first Industrie 4.0 SME Day in Kaiserslautern. In: plattform-i40.de, retrieved August 14, 2017 Since 2014, the production plant is annually exhibited at the trade show Hannover Messe in Germany.Technologie-Initiative SmartFactory-KL . In: hannovermesse.de, retrieved August 14, 2017
In May 2019 Zühlke handed the Smartfactory-KL Chair to Martin Ruskowski. Thereafter, he organized and founded together with Smartfactory-KL / Germany, Brainport Industries / Netherlands und Flanders Make / Belgium the european umbrella organization SmartFactory-EU EWIV located in Kaiserslautern. Since then he became the executive Director. This association offers a platform for all european operators of research and demonstration facilities for smart manufacturing technologies in order to strengthen their cooperation and information.
Zühlkes main research topic has been the transfer of the "Internet of Things" into the future factory environment to create the "Factory of Things".Interview: Professor Detlef Zühlke about IoT . In: smart-industry.net, March 22, 2017, retrieved July 4, 2017.
Appointments 1998: Chair of Production Systems at Ruhr University Bochum (declined). 2002: Leader of the Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Processing IITB in Karlsruhe in conjunction with a professorship for Interactive Realtime Systems at the University of Karlsruhe (declined).
Awards 1983: Borchers Medal of the RWTH Aachen for an outstanding performance in his PhD thesis.Pionier der Industrie 4.0 feiert 25-jähriges Dienstjubiläum. In: idw-online.de, March 31, 2016, retrieved June 27, 2017. 2005: Association of German Engineers (VDI) – Medal of Honour for his merits in VDI/VDE-Society Measurement and Automatic Control (GMA).Transferbotschafter Industrie 4.0 . In: transferinitiative-rlp.de, retrieved June 27, 2017. 2011: IFAC Outstanding Service Award.Erneut hohe Auszeichnung für Professor Zühlke. In: pressebox.de, June 27, 2011, retrieved June 22, 2017. 2013: For his outstanding scientific work in the field of industrial automation, he was awarded with a doctor honoris causa by the Hermann-Oberth-Faculty of the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (ULBS).Prof. Dr.-Ing. Detlef Zühlke erhält die Ehrendoktorwürde der Lucian Blaga Universität in Sibiu/Rumänien. In: science-alliance.de, May 24, 2013, retrieved June 22, 2017. 2016: Prof. Zühlke among Smart Industry's TOP 50 Innovators of Digital Transformation.The Smart Industry 50. In: Smart Industry, retrieved July 28, 2017. 2016: Zühlke among the 30 Advanced Manufacturing Visionaries recognized by SME in its Smart Manufacturing magazine.Inaugural Smart Manufacturing Magazine Recognizes 30 Advanced Manufacturing Visionaries. In: sme.org, May 3, 2016, retrieved 28 July 2017. 2017: Manufacturing Leadership (ML) Awards – Frost & Sullivan's Manufacturing Leadership Council honors him as Manufacturing Leader of the Year for his pioneer work in the field of Industrie 4.0.2017 Manufacturing Leadership Awards Program Honors Trailblazers of Industry Transformation. In: wallstreet-online.de, June 15, 2017, retrieved July 4, 2017. 2017: Order of Merit Award of the Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate.PROF. DR. DETLEF ZÜHLKE ERHÄLT VERDIENSTORDEN DES LANDES RHEINLAND-PFALZ. In: oup-fluidtechnik.de, January 02, 2018.
Honorary positions Chairman of the IFAC CC 4 on Mechatronics, Robotics and Components and member of the IFAC Technical Board. 2002 - 2008: Chairman of the International Federation of Automatic Control - IFAC TC 4.5 on Human-Machine-Systems. 2005 - 2019: Chairman of the Executive Board of Technology Initiative SmartFactory KL e.V.; since 2019: Honorary member of the Executive Board of SmartFactory-KL Chairman of the VDI/VDE-GMA Focusproject "Ambient Intelligence in Automation". Scientific coordinator of the USEWARE congress series. Member of the board of governors of the Manufacturing Leadership Council.Board of Governors . In: gilcommunity.com, retrieved Jule 24, 2017. Member of the Industry 4.0 scientific advisory board hosted by acatech (German national academy of science and engineering).Neue Chancen für unsere Produktion – 17 Thesen des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats der Plattform Industrie 4.0. In: acatech.de, retrieved Jule 24, 2017.
Selected works Useware-Engineering für technische Systeme, Springer Verlag, 2004. Der intelligente Versager - Das Mensch-Technik-Dilemma, Primus Verlag, 2005. SmartFactoryKL – A Vision becomes Reality. Keynote Paper Moscow, 13th IFAC Symposium on Information Control Problems in Manufacturing, 2009. SmartFactory — Towards a factory-of-things, IFAC Annual Reviews in Control, Volume 34, 2010. Model-Driven Development of Advanced User Interfaces, Springer Verlag, 2011. Industrie 4.0 Handbook (chapters) edt. By Gunter Reinhart, Hanser Verlag, 2017.
References
Technologie-Initiative SmartFactory KL e.V. Deutsche Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI) GmbH