"Lust for performance" was his life principle. Prof. Hans-Jürgen Warnecke was a spirit of research, a strategist, reformer and visionary who played a key role in shaping the zeitgeist in engineering over the last 40 years and actively helped to shape innovation in applied research. On the night of March 19-20, 2019, the former President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, former Chair of the Institute for Industrial Manufacturing and Factory Operation (IFF) at the University of Stuttgart and Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA passed away after a long illness. Prof. Hans-Jürgen Warnecke was 84 years old.
Hans-Jürgen Warnecke studied mechanical engineering, specializing in machine tools and production engineering at the Technical University of Braunschweig. He then worked in a responsible position at Rollei-Werke, Franke & Heidecke in Braunschweig. In 1970, Hans-Jürgen Warnecke accepted a call from the University of Stuttgart and became full professor and head of the Chair of Industrial Production and Factory Operation, as well as head of the Fraunhofer IPA in Stuttgart in 1971. Under his leadership, this developed into one of the largest and most successful Fraunhofer Institutes. In 1981
the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO was founded from the IPA's Department of Work and Organization under the leadership of Prof. Hans-Jörg Bullinger.
In addition to his duties as a university lecturer and researcher, Hans-Jürgen Warnecke has always been personally committed to the further development of engineering sciences and their anchoring in society, industry, research associations and professional organizations, and he has also taken on a variety of tasks for the community. His work has been recognized with many awards, prizes and honors at home and abroad and has been made known to the public. These include several honorary doctorates and honorary professorships as well as the award of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
