The new SCALE (Scalable Production Systems of the Future) research building at Leibniz University Hannover’s Mechanical Engineering Campus makes it possible to carry out research on production engineering independently of component size. The building, which is located next to the Hannover Centre for Production Technology in Garbsen, was officially opened on 4 March 2025. A total of 49.6 million euros were invested in the building and the large-scale equipment installed there, with half of the funding coming from the state of Lower Saxony and half from the federal government. The ground-breaking ceremony was held in December 2019, and the building was completed at the end of 2023. Now that the large-scale machinery has been installed and assembled, operations in the building can begin.
“The new research building is significant for LUH – and for Lower Saxony as a scientific and business hub,” said LUH president Prof. Dr. Volker Epping. “Here we can bundle scientific competencies and combine them with business expertise, further enhance our profile and, above all, strengthen LUH’s key research area on production engineering,” he emphasised. Falco Mohrs, Lower Saxony’s minister of culture and science, underscored: “Our joint investment of roughly 50 million euros together with the federal government will not only expand the important research taking place at LUH – it is simultaneously an investment in the competitiveness and future of our industrial sector.”
The two outer bays of the building’s main research hall each provide 1,125 square metres of workspace and 10 metres of height under the crane hook. In the middle section of the hall, which offers 5 metres of height below the crane hook, mobile robots will move through the space and work on XXL components in future. The hall is home to 11 large-scale instruments, from a scalable servo press line and a mobile production robot to a multiaxial servohydraulic load-testing rig.
In addition to the research hall, the building includes labs and offices for up to 150 researchers, technical staff and student assistants. Roughly 100 researchers can work in the open-plan office on the second floor – in interdisciplinary teams from various subject areas and institutes in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. There are also offices on the first floor. Many of these are intended especially for the technical staff, who can access the maintenance catwalks positioned along the two hall bays from them. In addition to the research hall, the ground floor consists of laboratories, changing rooms and a parent-child office. The outdoor area has been outfitted with parking spots, green space and retention basins for rainwater.
The SCALE research building is intended to facilitate the study and development of cutting-edge manufacturing methods and process chains that enable production independently of size or quantity. This is a central requirement for ecologically sound and economically efficient production. The work at the SCALE building aims to investigate the entire life cycle of components produced independently of scale, including different manufacturing processes, process design and engineering, and recycling.
Note to editors:
For further information, please contact the manager of the SCALE research building, Dr.-Ing. Mark A. Swider, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (tel. 0511 762-9839; email: swider@maschinenbau.uni-hannover.de).
