"Wow, you´re making gold?"
That was the surprising comment of a new staff member when I opened the chamber of a PVD coating machine and he saw a TiN coated component batch for the very first time.
Welcome,
on my website. My name is Dr. Georg Erkens.
Well, even after more than 30 years of intensive R&D on PVD and PACVD surface technology, I still can’t make Gold, but I can help you turn your ideas, your products, your application into Gold. Innovation management at its best, the transfer of knowledge into monetary benefits.
Your consultant, coach, idea supplier, manager, sparring partner in all aspects of industrial plasma surface technology along the value chain, independent of suppliers, vendors, subcontractors, institutions.
I support you
- to fill knowledge gaps, to bridge vacancies as interim manager
- to optimise or develop new methods, processes and products for specific applications
- to optimize workflows in terms of efficiency and quality
- to work out solutions in terms of application questions
- create marketing concepts for new products
- preparing decisions on Capex
- evaluate, select and qualify processes, technologies and suppliers
- to implement and accompany in-house productions globally.
Off-the-shelf solutions are not my thing, they never have been. To leave the comfort zone, to question the existing again and again, to think out of the box, that is and has always been part of my R&D DNA.
I will be the driving force in the cooperation with the people involved in your company. In this way, new ideas will be worked out, questioned, implemented and thus accepted from the core of your company.
Through cooperation with institutes and other experts such as application experts in high-performance machining, experts in surface micro-structuring and other surface technologies, etc., further know-how can be integrated into the project from my network if required.
As already mentioned above, unfortunately I can’t make gold but how about diamonds? If you want to know more about the production of monocrystalline diamonds, so called “lab grown diamonds” by means of plasma technology, please feel free to touch base with me. Applications: for sure the jewellery industry but also electronics and sensor technology, medical technology, the tool industry for production of super-sharp cutting edges and much more.
Consultant Profile
During his career in companies such as Sulzer AG (Sulzer Metaplas GmbH - today Oerlikon Balzers Coating Germany GmbH), CemeCon AG, Surcoatec Deutschland GmbH, he held a variety of management positions in the areas of corporate and executive management, operations, systems engineering, technology sales and marketing, and research & development. Dr. Georg Erkens has been awarded "Sulzer Chief Technical Expert" by the Sulzer Corporation, as a proven process, system and application expert in thin-film technology. Under the motto "Best in Class", he and his multinational teams have always successfully applied their experience worldwide in the development and marketing of "Turn-Key Solution", from the first modular coating systems including novel coating solutions to the disruptive innovation process of self-adaptive, multifunctional MpC coating systems.
Tech Base: tribological and wear resistant high performance coatings, DLCs und PVD hardcoatings, mono-layer, multi-layer, nano-layer, nano composites and laminates, Arc, sputtering (MSIP (dc, rf, pulsed), H.I.S., H.I.P), HIPIMS, HI3, hybrid (Arc – HIPIMS – MSIP – PACVD), duplex, PACVD, surface micro-structuring.
Applications: tools for high-performance cutting, forming, punching, stamping; components for engine and power engineering, aviation, turbine and medical technology, the food and drug industry, process and plant engineering.
Research cooperations: national and international research and development projects in collaboration with renowned institutes such as the WZL and IOT from the RWTH Aachen University, the IFW from Hanover University, Fraunhofer institutes such as the IST in Brauschweig and world-leading tool manufacturers and companies in the automotive and aviation industries.
Consultant Profile
Dr. Georg Erkens received his scientific education at the renowned RWTH Aachen in Germany where he got his Phd in material science. He is a C-Level Manager and Director with proven experience in R&D, equipment engineering and operations and EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction, also known as turn-key) in corporate groups and SMEs, both national and international. The development of new PVD hardcoatings and the associated processes and technologies has always been a recurrent theme throughout his professional career. Various publications and patent applications reflect this.
During his career in companies such as Sulzer AG (Sulzer Metaplas GmbH – today Oerlikon Balzers Coating Germany GmbH), CemeCon AG, Surcoatec Deutschland GmbH, he held a variety of management positions in the areas of corporate and executive management, operations, systems engineering, technology sales and marketing, and research & development. Dr. Georg Erkens has been awarded “Sulzer Chief Technical Expert” by the Sulzer Corporation, as a proven process, system and application expert in thin-film technology. Under the motto “Best in Class”, he and his multinational teams have always successfully applied their experience worldwide in the development and marketing of “Turn-Key Solution”, from the first modular coating systems including novel coating solutions to the disruptive innovation process of self-adaptive, multifunctional MpC coating systems.
Tech Base: tribological and wear resistant high performance coatings, DLCs und PVD hardcoatings, mono-layer, multi-layer, nano-layer, nano composites and laminates, Arc, sputtering (MSIP (dc, rf, pulsed), H.I.S., H.I.P), HIPIMS, HI3, hybrid (Arc – HIPIMS – MSIP – PACVD), duplex, PACVD, surface micro-structuring.
Applications: tools for high-performance cutting, forming, punching, stamping; components for engine and power engineering, aviation, turbine and medical technology, the food and drug industry, process and plant engineering.
Research cooperations: national and international research and development projects in collaboration with renowned institutes such as the WZL and IOT from the RWTH Aachen University, the IFW from Hanover University, Fraunhofer institutes such as the IST in Brauschweig and world-leading tool manufacturers and companies in the automotive and aviation industries.
Why do I do what I do?
What does motivate me most is the freedom to independently search for the best solutions for you.
With imagination and creativity
always looking for new ideas to take off from the runway again and again.
This is our passion for coating technology, the enthusiasm to discover and move new things with our customers. The joy of imparting basic and application related knowledge, based on our experience, to optimize processes and procedures.
Of course, many requests cannot be realized due to physical limitations, especially if there are still attempts to refurbish components and surfaces by PVD and PACVD coating.
“It does not work? Let’s put a layer on it and then it will be fine.”
That’s where I came in. The lack of knowledge about what plasma technology can do, where the limits are, how physical properties can be tuned within which limits, which requirements should be met, which materials are useful, what is economical, what should be considered from the beginning of the design process with regard to coatability, etc. are reasons enough to support this.
Honesty and openness is the key here. “What doesn’t work, doesn’t work!” “What doesn’t work, doesn’t work”, but to look for alternatives, to approach the subject from a different angle, to think out of the box, that’s my ambition.
In addition, there have always been inquiries due to dissatisfaction, unreliability, quality problems, helplessness due to a lack of specialists knowledge and the resulting dependency, a lack of support due to a competitive situation, uncertainty and excessive demands due to the variety of offers, lack of flexibility and many other things.
That is why I have decided to build the bridge right here to bridge the gap between plasma surface technology and your core konwhow. Use my expertise in coating technology to optimize existing products and develop new ones and you can focus on your core know-how. If you want to extend your business by the in-house production of high performance coatings, use my support, the bridge between theoretical and practical knowledge in plasma surface technology and your core competence.
Exchange ideas with me without any obligation. How can I support you ?
Values determine our decisions
Values define our actions
Consulting means trust, trust rests on values.
Our values
Authenticity
We are true to our own personality and character and no timeservers.
Accountability
We do what we say.
Esteem
We always approach our counterpart with respect, interest and awareness.
Passion
We enjoy what we do, we have high expectations, are curious and are willing to teach what we know.
We are your partner and source of inspiration for something new and for innovations in the field of industrial plasma surface technology, that always has been our passion.
Our focus:
Coating technology is our DNA, “promoting the success of the customer” is our guiding principle. We think outside the box and, in accordance with the motto “braking the rules”, we are your sparring partner when it comes to innovation, optimization, disruption and new ideas.