Dipl.-Ing. Eckhard Hohwieler studied electrical engineering at the Technische Universität Berlin. In 1981 he entered the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (IPK) in Berlin as a researcher and became head of department for machine operation and programming in 1986. Since 2004 he is head of the department production machines and systems management at the Fraunhofer IPK. His research interests focus on intelligent manufacturing systems, condition monitoring and energy efficiency. Since 2009 Mr. Hohwieler has established the research area of self-organising production based on cyber-physical systems at the institute and successfully initiated and manages national funded research projects in the domain of Industrie 4.0 with industrial partners.