A.T. Kearney - Global Excellence in Operations

	Dr. Günter Blaschke, born in 1949, earned his PhD after completing his studies in business management at the Universität zu Köln in the faculty for industrial management. He started his career in 1978 as assistant manager for marketing at Procter & Gamble GmbH, Schwalbach. From 1981 to 1990, he was in charge of the marketing, product management and sales departments for video products at 3M Germany and later with 3M Europe in Brussels. As of 1990, Dr. Blaschke was alternately responsible for sales, marketing, production and development at Joh. Vaillant GmbH & Co. KG, Remscheid, for both national and international activities. He moved on to RATIONAL GmbH as Managing Director in March 1997, where he has been President and Chief Executive Officer since September 1999.
	Prof. Dr.-Ing.-habil. Prof. e.h. Dr. h.c. Hans-Jörg Bullinger, was active in applied industry research from 1971 to 1980. From 1980-1982, he was Professor for industrial science at the Fernuniversität Hagen and from 1982 to 2002, Professor for industrial science at the Universität Stuttgart and Head of the Fraunhofer-Institut für Arbeitswirtschaft und Organisation (IAO) in Stuttgart. Furthermore, he was Head of the Institut für Arbeitswissenschaft und Technologiemanagement (IAT) of the Universität Stuttgart from 1991-2002. Current position: President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, headquartered in Munich. Professor Bullinger has received the following awards: Otto-Kienzle-Gedenkmünze der Hochschulgruppe Fertigungstechnik, VDI-Ehrenring in Gold, Human Factors Society's Distinguished Foreign Colleague Award, Honorary Doctorate Award of the Universität Novi Sad 1991, Honorary Professor of the University of Science and Technology of China 1991, Member of the World Academy of Productivity Science 1993, Honorary Member of the Romanian Society for Mechanical Engineers 1994, Recipient of the Arthur-Burkhardt Award 1995, Bundesverdienstkreuzes am Bande (Cross of Merit Award) 1998, Bundesverdienstkreuzes 1. Klasse in 2003, Honorary Doctorate Award from the Universität Politehnica Timisoara 2004. He is the author and co-author of a wide array of books and more than 1,000 publications.
	Dr. Günter Jordan obtained his PhD from the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, with main focus on production technology and automation. He has been a strategic management consultant with A.T. Kearney for 13 years, and Member of the Executive Board and Head of the European Competence Center for Production. Dr. Günter Jordan has been in charge of "The Factory of the Year/GEO" competition ever since it started in 1992.
	Prof. Dr.-Ing. Uwe Loos held top management positions with various companies in the automobile supplier and automotive industry, such as Managing Director of Löhr & Bromkamp GmbH, Offenbach, Member of the Executive Board of Porsche AG, Stuttgart, Chief Executive Officer of FAG Kugelfischer AG, Schweinfurt, and until the end of 2002, Chief Executive Officer of Dekra AG, Stuttgart. Since 2000, Professor Loos has been the Chief Executive Officer of VDI-Gesellschaft Fahrzeug- und Verkehrstechnik.
	Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirt. Ing. Günther Schuh studied mechanical engineering and business management at the RWTH Aachen. He earned his PhD in 1988, after working as assistant at the WZL for Prof. Eversheim, where he was active until 1990 as Chief Engineer. As of 1990, he was a full-time Assistant Professor for production technology and industrial management at the Universität St. Gallen (HSG), where he was appointed Professor in 1993 for economic production management and analogously Member of the Directorate at the Institute for Technology Management. In September 2002, Prof. Schuh joined Professor Eversheim at the Faculty for Production Systematics of RWTH Aachen and he is Member of the Directorate of the Machine Tools Laboratory (WZL) and of the Fraunhofer IPT in Aachen. Since October 1, 2004 he has been the Director of the Research Institute for Rationalization (FIR) at the RWTH Aachen. Prof. Schuh received the Otto-Kienzle-Gedenkmünze Award in 1991 from the Scientific Association for Production Technology. His scientific work was honored several times during the Swiss Technology Competition. Some of his most important research findings include authoritative methods and instruments for complexity management, for resource-oriented process cost accounting, for participative change management and the virtual factory concept. He is the founder and main shareholder of the software and consulting enterprise GPS Komplexitätsmanagement AG in St. Gallen, Würselen and Atlanta. Prof. Schuh is a member of the Administrative Council, Supervisory Board and Advisory Board in various machine construction firms and software houses.
	Univ.-Prof.em. Dr. h.c.mult. Dr.-Ing. e.h. Dr.-Ing. Günter Spur, born on October 28, 1928 in Braunschweig, is Emeritus Professor at the Technische Universität Berlin. He was the Head of the Institute for Machine Tools and Factory Operations of the TU Berlin and the Fraunhofer-Institut for production systems and construction engineering for decades. From 1991 to 1996, he was the founding rector of the Brandenburg Technische Universität Cottbus. Professor Spur has delivered significant contributions to production technology - particularly in the fields of machine tools and production technology, factory operations as well as computer-integrated production. His research work spans more than 800 magazine and book publications as well as numerous speeches nationally and abroad. Günter Spur is a Member in a wide array of scientific institutions and academies. His awards as scientist and university professor have been honored internationally with high-ranking prizes and distinctions.
	Prof. Dr. Ing. Dr. Ing. e.h. Klaus Wucherer started his career at Siemens AG as project engineer at the branch office Bremen in the Technical Office Osnabrück. In 1972, he was Group Manager of the Technical Department for regulated three-phase and concurrent flow drives SIMATIC at the branch office in Bremen. He was appointed as Divisional Manager in 1978. As Head of the Technical Department for system sales, he moved on to Siemens S.A., Sao Paulo/Brazil in 1983. He returned to Germany in 1986 and took over the reins as Head of the Business Division for Industrial Communication, Software House, Automation Systems for Machine Tools and Industrial Automation Systems (SIMATIC) in Nürnberg and Erlangen. In 1996 he was appointed Member of the Divisional Board of Automation Technology in Nürnberg. He took over the position as Head of the Divisional Board for Automation and Power Train Engineering in 1998. In 1999, he was appointed as Member of the Management Board and has been Member of the Central Executive Board of Siemens AG since October 2002. Dr. Wucherer resigned from the Management Board end of 2007. In January 2003, he was elected as President of the Association of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Information Technology e.V. (VDE) and has been Vice President since 2004. In addition, he is Honorary Professor at the TU Chemnitz in the faculty for mechanical engineering and at the FH Osnabrück for the faculty of electrical engineering and information technology.