KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Professor Reimund Neugebauer - President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Professor Reimund Neugebauer, born 1953 in Thuringia, Germany, is since 2012 the 10th President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. With his profound management and R&D background, he is responsible for research, science policy and international affairs. During his presidency, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft grew by around 10,000 employees and increased its research budget to almost three billion euros.
Professor Neugebauer is a fellow of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP) and a member of acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering in Germany.
Professor Wilfried Sihn - Fraunhofer Austria / TU Wien
In September 2004 Univ. Prof. Dr. Ing. DI Prof eh. Dr. h.c. Wilfried Sihn joined the TU Wien as a professor for industrial and system engineering at the Institute of Management Sciences and has since been head of this Institute twice, according to rotation. In November 2008, he was appointed Managing Director of the newly founded Fraunhofer Austria Research GmbH and manages the Division Production and Logistics Management in Vienna.
He has been active in the field of applied research for more than 30 years now, taking part in more than 300 industrial projects. His areas of expertise include production management, corporate organization, enterprise logistics, factory planning, order management, life-cycle management, maintenance, modelling and simulation, and business process reengineering. His current focus is on implementing Industry 4.0 concepts, such as Smart Maintenance.
Besides being part of advisory and administrative boards, he also holds several positions in various organizations, e.g. board member of the International Federation of Production Research (IFPR) as well as the German Chamber of Commerce (DHK) in Vienna, member of the European Academy for Industrial Management (AIM) and Fellow Member of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP).
Klaus von der Osten-Sacken - Vice President of the BMW Group and BMW Group South Africa Director for Digital and Global Solutions
Klaus von der Osten-Sacken first joined BMW in 2004 and, over the years, has held various roles including Softlab Head of Automotive, Head of Process IT OtD and ItO, Project eDiscovery, Project GDPR, Head of Customer Data, and Head of New Organisational Structures for the DevOps business.
Today he is leading the Global Development and IT Operations Hub South Africa which provides IT services for core BMW Group processes such as production and logistics, finance and sales to more than 50 countries. With more than 1,600 experts, the Hub designs, creates and operates digital solutions as an internal partner of the BMW Group.
Doctor Jan Vosloo - North-West University
Dr Jan Vosloo is a registered professional engineer and holds a PhD in electrical and electronic engineering. He has also completed a master’s degree in business administration. Jan has more than 16 years’ worth of experience in the mining industry and has been involved in various mine optimisation research and development initiatives. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the North-West University.