To meet and adapt to the current and future trends and issues in technology and society, the science committee of The German Academic Society for Production Engineering (WGP) continues to define future topics for production technology.These themes represent not only the key focus for the scientific work of the WGP, but also the central themes of the first annual conference in June 2011, whose paper is publically available in this volume. Such themes, including electric mobility, medical technology, lightweight construction, and resource efficiency, as well as mass production ability have all been identified as future, large-scale, and long-term drivers of change.Future trends influence changes sustainably and fundamentally; they permeate society, technology, economics, and value systems and have an effect in virtually all areas of life.The WGP has, as part of its research, established for itself the goal of not only observing these emerging changes, but also of supervising and influencing their development in order to ensure steady progress, secure sustainability, and shape the future.

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Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirt. Günther Schuh is Professor and Head of the Department of Production Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, member of the Laboratory for Machine Tools WZL and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen, Director of the FIR Research Institute for Rationalization and Vice President for Business and Industry at RWTH Aachen. Dr.Ing. habil. Prof. E.h. Dr.Ing. E.h. Dr. h.c. Reimund Neugebauer is Head at the Fraunhofer IWU and Executive Director of the Institute for Machine Tools and Production Processes IWP at Technical University of Chemnitz. Prof. Neugebauer is a member of the Working Group Forming (AGU), Member of the Scientific Society for Manufacturing Engineers (WGP), Active Member (Fellow) of the International Academy for Production Engineering Research (CIRP) and Member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech). He holds a Honorary Professorship at the Technical University of Kuzbass / Russia, Honorary Doctorate of the Moscow State Technological University Stankin, Honorary Doctorate from Technical University of Brno. In 2005 Reimund Neugebauer was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class of Germany. Prof. Dr. hc.  Dr.-Ing. Eckart Uhlmann, Technical University of Berlin, is corresponding member of the College International pour la Recherche en Productique (CIRP), a member of the advisory committee for research programs of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Reviewer for the German Research Foundation (DFG) and a member of the scientific Council of the Association of Industrial research Associations e. V. (AIF) and the WGP "German Society for Production Engineering".

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