The IKV bids farewell to its long-standing advisory board member
Dr.-Ing. Erwin Bürkle passed away on July 29, 2024, at the age of 82. For decades, he was a key driver of innovation and one of the most significant bridges between science and industry in the entire plastics sector.
© Deutsches Reinrauminstitut e.V., Schlehdorf/PrivatErwin Bürkle has been associated with IKV since his doctorate as an external student in 1988. This followed his part-time engineering studies at the Munich University of Applied Sciences and mechanical engineering studies at the Technical University of Munich, which he completed in 1978 with a diploma as a development engineer in application technology for plastics machines. As an external student, Erwin Bürkle received his doctorate in engineering under Prof. Dr.-Ing. Georg Menges with the thesis “Improved knowledge of the plasticizing system in injection moulding machines”. Erwin Bürkle worked for KraussMaffei for almost 50 years. As Head of Advance Development/New Technologies and Technology Opportunity Recognition, he was a decisive driving force for decades and one of the most important bridge builders between science and industry for the entire plastics industry.
In the 2000s, Erwin Bürkle was a member of the Board of Trustees of the IKV until his retirement in 2009. He was particularly committed to the injection molding advisory board group, which he chaired for many years and which he continued to actively support after his retirement. In this way, he has inspired generations of students and supported them with his down-to-earth Bavarian manner as an advisor and motivator. As Head of Advanced Development at KraussMaffei, he was responsible for numerous innovations, from which he always derived new impulses for research. He recognized very early on that plastics have great potential to replace glass as the standard material for the production of optical lenses and drove this development forward together with IKV.
In 2008, he was awarded the Georg Menges Prize at the 24th International Plastics Technology Colloquium of the IKV in Aachen for his services to the implementation of scientific findings in practice. It is awarded every two years by the Rubber and Plastics Machinery Association of the German Engineering Federation, PlasticsEurope Deutschland e. V. and the Association for the Promotion of the Institute for Plastics Processing in Industry and the Skilled Crafts at RWTH Aachen University.
Erwin Bürkle is the author of numerous publications, including the specialist books “Combination technologies based on the injection moulding process” and “Clean room technology in injection moulding processing”. In addition to his involvement in IKV’s Board of Trustees, Advisory Board and Sponsors’ Association, he was on the Advisory Board of the South German Plastics Center in Würzburg, the “Injection Moulding” and “Medical Technology” Advisory Boards of the VDI Society for Plastics Technology, the VDI-K Advisory Board, the VDMA’s Technology Innovation Initiative, the Industrial Advisory Board of Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences, the Bayern Innovativ Advisory Board in the “New Materials” cluster and was a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the magazine “Kunststoffe”.
In Erwin Bürkle, IKV has lost an opinionated innovator with inexhaustible knowledge and skills and a great motivator. We are saddened by the loss of a great person and bid farewell to our loyal companion and friend with great gratitude.
For the institute management and all
Employees of the
Institute for Plastics Processing
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Hopmann