The expertise of Prof. Dr. Udo Lindemann is needed in industry and research: Here he speaks at an international symposium in Garching about the topic „Engineering Design“ (Image: TUM Laboratory for Product Development and Lightweight Design /Photography Sabine Gassner).
From university into industry
After gaining his doctorate in the field of Construction Technology at TUM, he was first of all drawn to industry. He worked for fifteen years in management positions at Renk and MAN, but did not lose sight of his “long-term vision of university”. However, it had to be “the right university and the right professorial chair” if he was to replace his highly interesting industrial projects with research and teaching. When Joachim Milberg, former full professor at the Faculty for Mechanical Engineering at TUM, asked him to apply for the position as successor to his doctoral supervisor, Lindemann did not hesitate – “decision-making is something you learn in industry” – and took up his position at TUM at the same time as President Wolfgang A. Herrmann.
People want to work in an interdisciplinary and highly agile manner, and you just have to let them do it.
Teaching key skills
“I myself could really have benefited from that kind training early on. That’s why, together with colleagues from the Faculty for Mechanical Engineering, I laid down the foundations for a later Center of Key Skills (ZSK), and I’ve been supporting it now for more than fifteen years.” The training in personal development in generic competences cannot be valued highly enough today, Lindemann says, when one looks at the need for cooperation between specialists and departments in companies. Being able to work in an interdisciplinary manner is also vital for innovation.
At Renk and MAN, the young development teams under the aegis of Udo Lindemann had already benefited from his regular team-building activities and were able to pool their skills more efficiently than in many other large corporations. At TUM, Lindemann sees such forward-looking working methods realized, especially in the THINK.MAKE.START. practical course as well as in the preceding events. Within two weeks, the participating Master students have to develop innovative products in teamwork, which in the best case can be marketed immediately via specially founded start-ups. “I’ve been a founding ambassador for students for several years and it’s really fun because something always comes out of it.”
Still active at TUM
Udo Lindemann has been emeritus professor since 2016 and is enjoying his new freedom on city trips and mountain walks with his wife. Nevertheless, he is pleased that the transition into retirement has not been too abrupt. He still supervises doctoral students, is active in an area of special research as well as in several externally-funded projects and is particularly pleased to participate in the meetings and interdisciplinary conferences of TUM’s Emeriti of Excellence. “Always a great way to broaden one’s horizons.”
Prof. Dr. Udo Lindemann (Image: Astrid Eckert & Andreas Heddergott/TUM).
Doctorate Mechanical Engineering 1979
After studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hanover and obtaining his doctorate at TUM, Udo Lindemann worked in industry for fifteen years; for Renk AG in functions ranging from group manager to division manager with a focus on product development (1980-1992) and as CEO of MAN Miller Druckmaschinen GmbH, Geisenheim as well as “Prokura” (holder of a special power of attorney) in MAN Roland AG (1992-1995).
In 1995 he succeeded Professor Ehrlenspiel as Head of the Chair of Construction at TUM (renamed later Chair of Product Development). At the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering he was Dean of Studies, Vice Dean and Dean. He was aktive in the University Council and Senate (2007-2016) and from 2010 to 2016 as a Senate Chairman.
Udo Lindemann is a founding member of the Design Society and was its president from 2007 to 2010; in 2008 he was elected to the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech); he is also a member of the Future Council of the Bavarian Economy.
He is active on the advisory boards of the Schäffler FAG foundation, the Georg and Ellen Zeidler foundation, and the Zeidler Research Foundation. Udo Lindemann has been awarded, among others, the VDI Honorary Ring (1986) and the Heinz Maier Leibnitz Medal of TUM (2007). He has been married for 44 years and has three adult daughters. He has passed on his passion for Mechanical Engineering to two of them, and they also studied Engineering.
Professor Dr. Udo Lindemann was appointed TUM Emeritus of Excellence by TUM president Prof. Dr. Wolfgang A. Herrmann in 2016.
