The wbk (Institute of Production Science) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) with almost 100 employees is one of the largest institutes within the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

The three departments Manufacturing and Material Engineering, Machines, Equipment and Process Automation and Production Systems, directed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Volker Schulze, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Fleischer and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gisela Lanza, focus on applied research, education and innovation in production science at the KIT.

Besides the research activities in the conventional areas of mechanical and plant engineering, wbk puts emphasis on developing production science for enabling technologies such as energy engineering, electric mobility and lightweight systems. On the one hand, the institute analyses how conventional production technologies and systems can be applied to new materials and on the other hand, it conducts research in up-scaling manufacturing processes and designing future factories and their networks.

With its modern and comprehensive equipment, the wbk offers its scientific staff as well as students excellent conditions for theoretical and experimental research work. In cooperation and joint projects with industrial partners, the wbk develops solutions for various topics in production engineering and, with a particular view on the future and works on methods and processes for the production of tomorrow.