The network for fiber-based multi-material lightweight design has got a new team member for the head office in Berlin since September 01, 2021. With Martin Kretschmann as project manager, Composites United e.V. was able to win a lightweight design expert for the areas of education and networking.

The Composites United e.V. (CU) welcomes Mr. Martin Kretschmann as a new team member and is pleased about the personnel reinforcement in Berlin. Since September 01, 2021, Mr. Kretschmann is responsible as project manager for the coordination of the initiative “Further Education in Lightweight Engineering” within the framework of the Master Plan Industrial City (MPI) Berlin. His main task will be the development of a network to support companies and skilled workers with offers of further professional training.

With its approximately 400 members, the CU forms a powerful industry and research association and pursues the goal of developing lightweight design solutions of the future as an ecological and economic advantage. In view of the increasing relevance of multi-material lightweight design for industry and production, specialists in this field are in high demand, both today as well as in the future.

In the greater Berlin area, professional training on the topics of lightweight design and fiber composite materials is not yet comprehensively offered. However, trained specialists are an essential basis for industrial companies to maintain and expand their competitiveness. This is where the MPI project “Further Education in Lightweight Engineering ” comes in. Its goal is to establish a network of educational institutions and industrial companies in order to train more skilled personnel in the capital region. Within the framework of the project, a customized and targeted training module for engineers, but also for master craftsmen, technicians and skilled workers is to be developed by means of a needs analysis. This will enable skilled personnel to transfer lightweight design innovations from research into industrial practice. The project initiators intend to establish the training modules as a permanent offering beyond the duration of the project.

With his qualifications in lightweight engineering and his professional experience in industry and science, Martin Kretschmann has the right expertise to drive forward the areas of networking and education at CU. During his mechanical engineering studies at the Institute of Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology at the TU Dresden, he already accompanied research work at the Wroclaw University of Technology. After graduating, he first worked for Volkswagen in Poznan in quality assurance and then for the prepreg developer and manufacturer New Era Materials Sp. z o.o. in Krakow. After returning to his native Brandenburg, he worked in the department of polymer-based lightweight design at Brandenburg University of Technology and at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in the division Polymeric Materials and Composites PYCO in Wildau near Berlin.

Due to his background, Martin Kretschmann speaks fluent Polish and has broad industry knowledge and contacts on both sides of the Oder river. Therefore, he will also play an important role  for the cooperation with our largest eastern neighboring country. In addition to his work in the MPI project, he will also be responsible for tasks within Composites United Leichtbau-Forschung gGmbH (CU-LF). CU-LF is a member of the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF), a national industry-supported organization for the promotion of applied research and development in the German SME sector. Through this function, Mr. Kretschmann will in the future support CU members in the outlining, submission, coordination and administration of IGF funded projects.

“I am very much looking forward to the new challenge and to contributing my experience to further develop the CU network, especially in the Berlin metropolitan region,” says Mr. Kretschmann. “Particularly important and exciting to me is the intensive networking of manufacturing industry, research as well as educational institutions with the IT industry, which is strongly represented in the capital region, as well as with the players from the field of additive manufacturing and their respective numerous, very innovative start-ups.. This networking also offers the opportunity to bring the latest industry trends, such as AI-based component development and production or even the digital twin, into the focus of vocational training and thus create a sustainable competitive advantage for the network participants.”