Author: Keith Popplewell

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Mertins was born 1947 in the Federal Republic of Germany. After studies of Control Theory in Hamburg and of Economy together with Production Technology at the Technical University of Berlin he was a member of the scientific staff of the University Institute for Machine Tool and Manufacturing Technology (IWF). Since 1983 he was head of the department “Production Control and Manufacturing Systems” at the Fraunhofer-Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (IPK), where he is since 1988 Director for Planning Technology. Since 1998 he is Professor for Production Management at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany. He has more than 20 years experience in design, planning, simulation and control of flexible manufacturing systems, manufacturing control systems, shop floor control systems, computer integrated manufacturing, business reengineering and enterprise modelling as well as Intellectual Capital Statement. He was General Project manager in several international industrial projects and gave lectures and seminars at the Technical University Berlin and several other universities.