ThyssenKrupp Magazin

Metal materials
– and the man
who knows
all about them
By Heribert Klein | Photos Claudia Kempf
TK Magazine | 1 | 2004 |
MATERIALS SELECTION 79
Jochen Adams has an important role at
ThyssenKrupp Schulte: he is known as the
inventor of a materials selection program – the
ideal database for customers to find the right
material in the shortest possible time
Jochen Adams does not leave the slightest doubt as to what he
does, or what exact functions he performs. According to his business
card, he is “Head of Central Technical Sales/Quality Management”
at ThyssenKrupp Schulte, one of the companies in the
ThyssenKrupp Services group. The title sounds more unwieldy than
Adams appears, for this title conceals a man whose entire professional
life has been molded by his expertise, interest and passion for metallic
materials.
“There is a lot to do here,” he says, sitting in his office, which is
filled to overflowing with records, papers and files. He thinks of thousands
of questions that lead to further questions on every topic in materials
science. This company officer with statutory authority named
Adams appears to be a walking encyclopedia, a person who knows
quite well how to use a computer, but equally adheres steadfastly to the
principle: “You have to read a lot in order to know where to find something.”
This is all done in the interests of being a service provider for
ThyssenKrupp Schulte’s branches in all questions pertaining to metallic
materials.
A DATABASE IS INITIALLY CREATED IN THE HEAD
Adams, who holds a degree in engineering, is the “inventor” and operator
of a practice-oriented materials selection program. This involves a
database that meantime appears to have attained gigantic proportions,
based on which Adams can provide each customer with the type of
steel which fits his or her requirements exactly. “We have taken every
type of steel and analyzed its properties. However, the tolerance limits
of a norm were not the decisive factor for us, but rather the realistic data
from our calculations. In this respect we have results that we can pass
on to our customers that really have been measured.” He prides himself
in the fact that he knows what he is talking about when he gives advice.
Originally, he is a metallographer. He began working at Thyssen
Röhrenwerke in 1967, moving to the heavy plate mill in south Duisburg
in the area of quality control in 1970. “You have to have a lot of luck in
your life to achieve success,” he emphasizes. To name just one example,
the fact that he discovered a pile of test result sheets for various
steels in which no one barring himself appeared to be interested in the