Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation

Fraunhofer IPA - one of the largest institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft - was founded in 1959 and employs about 1200 people. Our research and development activities focus on organizational and technological tasks in production. Processes, components and devices up to complete machines and systems are developed, tested and applied.

Production and automation expertise is continuously developed in 11 research areas.

In 11 business units, we work with small and large companies to turn our research findings into complete solutions, particularly for the automotive, mechanical and plant engineering, electronics and microsystems technology, energy, medical and biotechnology, and process industries.

End-to-End-Operations

Circular Economy and Carbon-Neutral Production

Contamination controlled Manufacturing

Testing and Certification

Coatings and multifunctional Materials

Battery and Hydrogen Systems

Machining Manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing and Lightweight Design

Digital Industries

Health Industry

Automated Intralogistics, Manufacturing and Assembly Systems

Start-up Incubator

Society, politics and technological developments will significantly change the way we deal with energy in the coming years. For example, the transformation process toward electromobility and wireless systems is underway, the use of hydrogen as a future energy carrier seems to have been decided politically and the use of energy in industry is associated with steadily decreasing CO2 emissions.

With its ideal combination of experience, manufacturing expertise and methodological skills, Fraunhofer IPA is helping to shape tomorrow’s industry in Europe by making it more energy-efficient and attractive. We conduct research and develop efficiency-enhancing solutions and planning methods in diverse fields of industry, such as automation, factory design & infrastructure planning, surface engineering & materials science, as well as cleanliness technology and production & process technologies.

The Energy Business Unit focuses on the future topics of battery production, intelligent energy systems for use in manufacturing and the energy carrier hydrogen.

In battery production, we offer solutions with an emphasis on digitization along the entire process chain, starting with the mixing of electrode materials through to the forming of the cell in an adaptable factory.

With smart energy systems, the focus is on solution concepts for energy efficiency and flexibility to harness savings potential in production.

A variety of technologies are required to produce hydrogen and use it as an energy carrier. Fraunhofer IPA is developing solutions for the industrial manufacture of components for generating, storing and converting hydrogen.