The second industrial workshop was held in Kaiserslautern at the Fraunhofer Institut für Techno- und Wirtschaftsmathematik (ITWM) on the 25th and 26th of May, 2023. Organized by fleXstructures GmbH in cooperation with Fraunhofer ITWM, it allowed Early Stage Researches (ESRs) and guests of THREAD to introduce themselves, present their topic and motivations to industrial partners and investigate its real-world applications. The workshop consisted of a series of interviews and had the main aim of supplying the speakers with feedback from the industry. As a matter of fact, the participants had the chance to benefit from the heterogeneity of the committee and colleagues and also to get involved into debates.
A profitable discussion about the main aspects of academical and industrial challenges opened the event, followed by the first session of talks. Presentations were given by Sudhanva Chandrashekhara, Quirin Hoesch, Davide Manfredo, Felix Mest, Indrajeet Patil, Mario Pezzella, Martina Stavole, Carole Tsegouog, Denise Tumiotto and Tian Zhao. Despite the variety of approaches and contents, they mainly addressed numerical methods and their impact on practical problems. Specifically, among the main topics of the workshop there were models for braiding processes, symplectic and conservative systems, multidimensional beams, Cosserat rods and efficient tools for their simulation. Suggestions were provided to improve the style of the presentation for a hypothetical job interview afterwards.
A wrap-up session concluded the workshop and motivated the participants to describe their own unique selling points and desirable qualities that make them attractive for potential hirers.
Besides the main event the participants had the opportunity to have fun together and to enjoy each other’s company with some social activities. The group met for lunch at Unique, both at the beginning and at the end of the workshop in a very convivial atmosphere. Furthermore, after the first session of presentations all contributors went to the Stiftsplatz to cheer on colleagues from fleXstructures and FraunhoferITWM participating at the B2Run. The 5 km run, currently at its 14th edition, involved over 6.000 people and 285 different companies and represented a way of feeling Kaiserslautern city life.
contributed by Mario Pezzella and Felix Mest