The MBA Automotive Industry is designed towards training managers in the automotive and supplier industry. In addition to management topics, the program focuses on automotive production, logistics and Industry 4.0. The program offers a balanced combination of theory and practice. On November 22 and 23, 2021, the excursions to companies in Stuttgart took place. The participants visited three renowned companies in Stuttgart and Reutlingen University.

Bertrandt, Porsche & Mercedes-Benz

Bertrandt is an engineering and development service provider in the automotive industry with more than 40 years of experience. Since the company specializes in the entire vehicle development process, OEMs and suppliers work with this company on new system developments. Bertrandt's service portfolio is very broad and ranges from design to chassis, powertrain and electronics development and testing. A lecturer from the MBA Automotive Industry, Mr. Jesko Hermann, Managing Director of Bertrandt Technologie GmbH, arranged the group a tour of the company and explained the new battery test facilities in detail.

Afterwards, the students visited the Porsche plant in Zuffenhausen, one of the most traditional German sports car manufacturers. With a long tradition, various sports cars and SUVs are manufactured here. Before starting the tour, the participants had the opportunity to visit the Porsche Museum, where they could see the electric car from 1898.  Plant manager Jens Brücker welcomed the participants and introduced the company. More than 80 years ago, the plant started with a design office, and today it is one of the most modern automotive plants in the world. Since the plant is located in the city, it is a challenge to expand the plant. As part of the plant expansion, Porsche has made the plant CO2 neutral. The Zuffenhausen plant produces Porsche 911, 718 and Taycan - an electric sports car. After the presentation and Q&A session, the plant tour of Taycan production began. The tour was led by Mr. Würsching, head of infrastructure projects at the Zuffenhausen plant, who was involved in the planning of the facility. During the tour, the processes were explained and detailed to the participants.

The Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen is the largest and most traditional vehicle plant of Daimler AG. Sindelfingen produces S-Class, E-Class, CLS, EQS, Mercedes-Maybach and Mercedes-AMG vehicles. It also has a center of excellence for the production of cars and, in the future, electric vehicles. After the presentation, the tour started in the press shop and went through the body shop. Both workshops are highly automated. Finally, the participants were able to visit the final assembly of the vehicle. The tour of the modern production facility was very interesting. After the tour of the Porsche vehicle, the participants were able to see the difference between the two companies in terms of working atmosphere, production and logistics systems.

Werk150

Prof. Vera Hummel and Prof. Daniel Palm are lecturers of the MBA Automotive Industry. After their lecture on Industrial Engineering and Logistics & Automotive Industry, they invited the participants to the newly established pilot factory Werk150 to show them the current research work and implementations in the laboratory. In this lab, application-oriented research and development work is carried out. Werk150 works closely with local companies to develop solutions that will ensure their competitiveness in the global market.

The participants and the program team would like to thank the companies and ESB Business School for their hospitality and the many exciting insights!

Personal Review

Robin Killian: "We were warmly welcomed at every company and got a lot of valuable automotive industry insights, among others at the test benches for automotive parts (e.g. batteries for electric vehicles) at bertrandt, the modern Industry 4.0 Taycan assembly line at Porsche and the press shop and final assembly of the Mercedes S-Class. In addition, we got the opportunity to see industry 4.0 technology of the future (e.g. Collaborative Robots, Artificial Intelligence in Ergonomic applications, active and passive Exoskeletons and Virtual Reality in Automotive Production) at the Werk150 of the ESB Reutlingen. 
My personal highlights were the presentation of Jens Brücker, the plant manager of Porsche Werk Zuffenhausen, the tour through the Taycan assembly line as well as the visit of the Werk150 under the guidance of Prof. Palm and his students."

Peter Hric:  "Thank you for organizing such a perfect trip to Stuttgart area! We had the opportunity to see the best in class at their daily business. In many way it was very inspiring for me."

About the  MBA Automotive Industry

The TU Wien  has been offering since 2009 a MBA Program for Automotive and Supply Industry getting deep insight into the structures and processes with special focus on production, logistics and industry 4.0. With our 10 years experience we upgraded the MBA program and changed it in a new format to meet the current challenges and requirements of the automotive industry – MBA Automotive Industry. 

Next Program starts on February 2, 2022. For more information take a look at our brochure, opens an external URL in a new window.