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12 PRoJeCt HoUse sYsteMs InteGRAtIon elements39 Issue 2|2012 333 About 300 years of professional experience in a wide variety of functions and six different disciplines: the 21 employees of the Project House Systems Integration 333 Through close proximity to application and market, the tasks in the Project House Systems Inte - g ration beyond the actual technology were highly diverse: The employees evaluated processes for their commercial value, developed business models and plans, analyzed value-added chains in detail, prepared conceptual studies for potential production lines, and conducted life cycle assessments. Work in the project house also placed specific demands on the employees. Skills such as creativity, network building, and adaptation to changed conditions are important prerequisites for success— unexpected R&D results often mean the modification of entire project plans. In this regard, a key efficiency and creativity factor was the mixture of young and experienced employees. The employees in the Project House Systems Integration had about 300 years of combined experience at their disposal, came from six different educational disciplines, and had previously worked in a variety of functions, from classical R&D, through production, to marketing and sales. They received additional support from 18 students, who were tackling a range of issues in work ranging from internships to such projects as a diploma thesis, a Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis, or an MBA. The success of the projects closely depends, not least, on an intense exchange with the participating business units, precisely because of the market proximity of the development projects. Consequently, the “project sponsors” from the business units played a central role. They were the interface to the market and the customer, since they managed the starting products in the business unit and—if the project is successful—are in charge of further development and, ultimately, commercialization after the project house is concluded. They supported the projects, analyzed the findings, and ensured close internal communication on the activities of the project house. In the preparation stage of the project house, ideas and suggestions from various business units were collected and evaluated as part of a feasibility study. From a total of 75 proposals, nine projects were left that met the basic requirements for development in the Project House Systems Integration: The product has to be closely partnered with a specific pro- Project house anchored in the business units
cessing method for an innovative application. The application itself cannot be blocked by third-party patents and must belong to a growth market. The competition must offer sufficient leeway, and not least: The innovation must promise new commercial success for the Group. In all nine projects, the project managers each pursued several development routes at the same time, and investigated a number of potential fields of application. This increased the likelihood of success, and gave employees enough freedom to find the best solution for each, and the best possible route to it. Lightweight construction was a key focus of the work in the Project House Systems Integration. In the Automotive Glazing project, PLEXIGLAS® glazing was developed to make vehicles lighter in weight and, therefore, increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. The requirements for car windscreens are invariably high: High mechanical strength must be matched by high impact strength. The panes have to be UV- and weather-resistant, guarantee high light transmission, and withstand temperatures of up to 80 °C without haziness. Scratch- and abrasion-resistance also play an important role. The procedure was different, depending on the type of glazing and production quantities. For smaller, injection-molding panes installed in large piece 333 PRoJeCt HoUse sYsteMs InteGRAtIon BAtteRY teCHnoLoGY Sustainable mobility PLeXIGLAS® glazing is only about half as heavy as conventional glazing The speed with which electric vehicles become operational largely depends on the performance of the battery. In cooperation with <strong>Evonik</strong> Lita rion GmbH, the experts in the Project House Systems Integration have worked on one of the most important chem ical components of the battery: The separator, which separates the electrodes in a battery cell. Based on <strong>Evonik</strong>’s existing SEPARION® separator, the project house investigated how the separator could be made thinner and lighter, for the purpose of increasing the amount of energy stored in the cell, and making the battery cells smaller and more compact. The challenge of this task is in cost-efficient mass production. 13 elements39 Issue 2|2012
Page 1 and 2: elements39 Quarterly Science newsle
Page 3 and 4: esources In 2011, Evonik generated
Page 5 and 6: “Tablets and sprays are more conv
Page 7 and 8: “There’s no success without tru
Page 9 and 10: “If you want to develop advanced
Page 11: work of the project houses focuses
Page 15 and 16: ficantly smaller piece counts, they
Page 17 and 18: On the way to the market cipating b
Page 19 and 20: sorrow were still part of everyday
Page 21 and 22: Honorary professorship for Dr. Klau
Page 23 and 24: evonik invests in High-tech Gründe
Page 25 and 26: it Remains a challenge for catalysi
Page 27 and 28: Figure 3 Performance profiles of va
Page 29 and 30: Patients Who suffeR from stomach or
Page 31 and 32: In permanent bending tests, veStAKe
Page 33 and 34: dr. Markus Braun, 45, is a trained
Page 35 and 36: nologies. The sandwich structure wi
Page 37 and 38: Left: One rapidly growing market th
Page 39 and 40: says Fengler. “And we don’t all
Page 41 and 42: At an exhibition in Darmstadt, the
Page 43 and 44: Creavis starts with new BISOn proje

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