Prof. Jan C. Aurich received his Ph.D. degree from Leibniz University Hannover in 1995. From 1990 to 1995, he was a research assistant at the Institute for Production Engineering and Machine Tools, Leibniz University of Hanover, and led the "CAD/CAPP" team from 1993. From 1995 to 2002, he played a management role in both production and development departments at Daimler AG. In 2002, he became the chair professor of the Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Production Systems at TU Kaiserslautern. In 2013-2014, he was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at UC Davis, USA. Prof. Aurich is a member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) and the German Academic Association for Production Technology (WGP), and a fellow of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP). His research focuses on digital production, micro-manufacturing, product–service systems, and sustainable manufacturing.