Dr.-Ing. Cordula Czwick (geb. Auth)

Cordula Czwick studied industrial engineering with a specialization in mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt until October 2016, graduating with a Master of Science degree. In her master’s thesis, she developed a method for comparing the cost-effectiveness of additive manufacturing with that of conventional manufacturing. In January 2017, she began working as a research assistant in the Department of Computer Integrated Design (DiK). In October 2020, Ms. Czwick defended her dissertation titled “Cyber Twin as a Foundation for Product-Service Systems.” Since then, she has been working as a postdoctoral researcher in the Product Life Cycle Management department. Since October 2025, Ms. Czwick is working as a chief engineer, focusing on the direction and development of research activities at PLCM.

Digitalisation and Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 refers to the fourth industrial revolution, which aims in particular to make production more flexible and customised whilst simultaneously increasing productivity. At its core are cyber-physical systems (CPS), which consist of a combination of hardware and software components based on embedded systems. CPS use their sensors to detect environmental influences in the physical world, process the data obtained in software applications, and can thus gather information on status, functionality and behaviour. Other relevant technologies include digital twins, communication protocols and standards, IoT platforms and cyber-physical twins. Key research areas at the PLCM include the design and application of the aforementioned digital tools, as well as the development of digital services. In particular, the combination of a physical product and a digital service offers opportunities for the development of new business models, customer-specific customisation, and longer and extended product use.

Cyber-Physical Twins

Cyber-Physical Twins represent a new development within the Industry 4.0 context, drawing on selected aspects of cyber-physical systems and digital twins and integrating them purposefully into a novel concept. At its core, the new approach involves understanding a cyber twin and a physical twin as a single unit, specifically interpreting their interactions and utilising them for new performance profiles, such as for service design. The concept of the cyber twin does not therefore compete with the existing concept of the digital twin; rather, the cyber twin expands the performance portfolio of a physical product to include additional customer-specific services, thereby increasing the customer-specific benefits of the resulting product-service system.

ArePron – agile resource efficient production network

Since January 2018, Mrs. Czwick is managing and working on the transfer project “ArePron – agile resource efficient production network” on the part of the Department of Computer Integrated Design (DiK). The project is approved by the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development (HMWEVL) and financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Hessian Ministry. The project is a collaboration between the Department of Computer Integrated Design, the Department of Material Flow Management and Resource Economy and the Institute of Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools. The aim until the end of the project in December 2020 is the increase of the resource efficiency with the help of an intelligent, cross-location linking of production systems. Technologies of digitalization improve the resource efficiency and, therefore, reduce costs while they reduce the ecological footprint of the company. With the help of collected, analyzed and conserved data, the resource efficiency of a manufactured part can be determined and optimized. On the part of the Department of Computer Integrated Design, the information and communication infrastructure is developed and implemented, which enables the collection und usage of data. In the end of the project, workshops and guidelines help to transfer information into the companies.

• Conception and design of a demonstrator for the handling of components in the process chain of additive manufacturing (Advanced Design Project)
• Design and Manufacturing of Hierarchical Multi-Functional Materials via High Resolution additive Manufacturing (Masterthesis)
• Development of a rule-based design approach for the product development process for additive manufacturing with fused deposition modeling (Bachelorthesis)
• Development of a systems concept for an automated post-process in additive manufacturing (Masterthesis)
• Conception and design of a shredder for additively manufactured components using the fused deposition modeling (FDM) (Advanced Design Project)
• Development of a method for optimizing and concretizing of process steps in additive manufacturing using Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) (Masterthesis)
• Development of a method for the communication design between process participants in the additive manufacturing lifecycle (Bachelorthesis)
• Development of method to increase the resource efficiency in the additive manufacturing lifecycle (Masterthesis)
• Further development of the function owner catalogue for additive manufacturing with development of a lever-shaft-integration at Airbus Helicopters (Masterthesis)
• Development of a utilization concept for additive manufacturing methods at Mercedes-Benz production plant Mannheim (Masterthesis)
• Development of a method for the identification of influencing factors on the quality and process stability of powder processing technologies of additive manufacturing (Masterthesis)
• Development of a method for expanding product capabilities towards smart products (Masterthesis)
• Development and Implementation of a Concept for Detection of Product Quality trough Data Acquisition and Utilization (Masterthesis)
• Development of a potential analysis for additive manufacturing processes with recommendations for the targeted use of technology (Masterthesis)
• Comparison and evaluation of the influence of Digitization on additive and conventional manufacturing (Masterthesis)
• Development of a method for the evaluation of sustainability of metal-working additive and conventional manufacturing (Masterthesis)
• Development of a procedure model for the connection of an existing production to a platform (Masterthesis)
• Development of a method for the targeted selection and installation of an IoT-platform (Masterthesis)
• Method for the user-oriented and target-oriented design of user interfaces (Bachelorthesis)
• Development of new business models through the use of product service systems (Studienarbeit)
• Scientific analysis of criteria and influencing variables on selected topics in selective laser melting (Advanced Research Project)
• Construction and development of an individual additively producible crank for a bicycle (Advanced Design Project)