As part of the Forming Technology Excellence Program at the Institute of Production Technology and Forming Machines (PtU), students are offered the opportunity to be long-term part of current research and to be closely involved in the scientific work at the institute. The participants conduct independent research on an innovative topic with special relevance for the forming technology of the future. The program includes first scientific publications as well as assistance in research and industrial projects and in-house classes. The status of “Junior Scientist” is also accompanied by access to the institute's resources, a full-time job and attractive funding.

The aim of the program is to get students interested in forming technology, to develop their technical knowledge and personal skills, and to give them the opportunity to stand out from other graduates. This is intended to ensure optimum preparation for a possible PhD following the program running parallel to the master's degree.

Students are integrated into one of the four departments at PtU during the Excellence Program. The department Process Chains and Forming Units deals with the technical and economic analysis of forming processes as well as the development of new units and processes. In addition, the Profile Manufacturing Technology department is concerned with research into improving the plannability of incremental processes as well as profiling technology using a variety of different approaches. The Tribology department looks at the forming processes such as deep drawing and cold forming with the sub-areas of friction, lubrication and wear. Furthermore, the department Functional and Composite Structures deals with the production and forming fundamentals of functional materials as well as joining by forming.