Page 484 - Gear Technology Solutions

Biography - Dr. Hermann J. Stadtfeld

Dr. Stadtfeld is the Vice President of Bevel Gear Technology and R&D at the Gleason
Corporation and Professor of the Technical University of Ilmenau, Germany. As one of the
world’s most respected experts in Bevel Gear Technology, he has published more than 350
technical papers and 12 books in this field. Likewise, he has filed international patent
applications for more than 70 inventions based upon new gearing systems, gear
manufacturing methods as well as cutting tools and gear manufacturing machines. Under his
leadership and guidance, the world of bevel gear cutting has converted to environmentally
friendly, dry machining of gears with significantly increased power density due to non-linear
machine motions and new processes. Those developments also lower the noise emission
level and reduce the degree of energy consumption.

Over a span of over 40 years, Dr. Stadtfeld has had a remarkable career in the field of Bevel
Gear Technology. Having received his Ph.D. with summa cum laude in 1987 at the Technical
University in Aachen, Germany, he became the Head of Development & Engineering at
Oerlikon-Bührle in Switzerland. Dr. Stadtfeld held a Professor position at the Rochester
Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York From 1992 to 1994. In 2000 he received for
his Developments at The Gleason Works two Automotive Pace Awards, one for his high-
speed dry cutting development and one for the successful development and implementation
of the Universal Motion Concept (UMC). The UMC brought the conventional bevel gear
geometry and its physical properties to a new level. In 2015, the Rochester Intellectual
property Law Association elected Dr. Stadtfeld the “Distinguished Inventor of the Year”.
Between 2015 and 2016 CNN-Networks featured him as “Tech Hero” in a website dedicated
to technical innovators for his accomplishments regarding environmentally friendly gear
manufacturing and technical advancements in gear efficiency. In 2024 Dr. Stadtfeld received
the Ernst Blickle Award from the SEW-Eurodrive Foundation, one of the highest awards in
engineering science.

Currently, he continues next to his Senior Management position at Gleason Corporation to
mentor and advise graduate level Gleason employees, and he supervises Gleason
sponsored Master Thesis programs as Professor of the Technical University of Ilmenau,
helping to shape the future of Gear Technology.

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