Technical know-how and pioneering spirit: engineer Patrick Tlauka embodies both
They do research on e-mobility, design huge industrial plants, develop software that allows production plants to communicate with each other, and work in the most remote places in the world:
engineers ensure progress - and hardly any job is as multifaceted as theirs. During the official "Engineers Week" we focus on their pioneering spirit and show the many different fields in which our engineers work. Patrick Tlauka, project engineer at thyssenkrupp Steel, is working with his team on the selectrify® project: an innovative steel solution made of ultra-light and high-strength steel that makes e-mobility more cost-effective and thus sets the course for a successful energy turnaround in the auto industry. In an interview, he tells us what inspires him about his job each and every day.
Patrick Tlauka particularly appreciates the challenge of the engineering profession. The solution of technical problems, on the one hand, requires professional expertise and on the other hand an adventurous spirit – ready to explore new terrains. Especially when it comes to new territory and innovative technologies, developing efficient solutions to a particular problem often resembles “piloting through unknown worlds”, as the project engineer himself describes it. This is precisely one of the challenges that make his profession so appealing to him.
Discovering unknown worlds
“I have always been a technophile. Starting a technical development from scratch is an exciting task. As an engineer, you can work in a wide variety of fields and all over the world,” the trained mechanical engineer enthuses about his profession.
Patrick Tlauka, project engineer at thyssenkrupp Steel, is in charge of sales for the selectrify® initiative, whose innovative steel solutions are aimed at making e-mobility more affordable – to set the course for a successful energy turnaround in the auto industry as well.
For Tlauka, his job is also impressive because of the variety of tasks and cooperation with different departments. Some of the specialist areas he deals with on an almost daily basis are research & development, key account management and marketing. Patrick Tlauka himself holds a degree in mechanical engineering and is responsible for the technical marketing of thyssenkrupp Steel‘s products and technologies as well as the acquisition and management of customer projects.
Shaping the future: Affordable lightweight steel solutions for e-mobility
Today, Patrick Tlauka is part of a team of experts working on the selectrify® initiative, which develops cost-effective and ultra-lightweight steel solutions to improve e-mobility. With cost-effective lightweight solutions for the vehicle body and structure, high-strength and safe battery housings and a special electrical steel strip for particularly efficient electrical drives, Patrick Tlauka’s team is using selectrify® to demonstrate the potential of steel solutions for electric vehicles: With selectrify®, environmentally friendly driving with electric cars can shed its luxury status and be made affordable for more people.
High-strength steels of extremely high quality not only reduce the weight of vehicles, but also make them more stable and safe.
“Steel is one of the most important materials for the automotive industry. We contribute to the ideal use of these materials to reduce both costs and CO2 emissions.” Tlauka explains the challenges that can be solved by using the selectrify® solutions: “We show the potential that innovative use of steel for e-mobility holds. For example, the cost pressure in automotive engineering is very high, as electric cars are still too expensive for many customers. With selectrify® we are making a contribution to making e-mobility more affordable and spreading it further.
The reason why the solutions from the selectrify® initiative reduce the costs of e-mobility is quite simply because the components, such as those for the body, are just as light as solutions made of aluminum. However, the production of aluminum is associated with enormously high costs. This makes steel a far more cost-efficient material.
An attractive working environment for a mechanical engineer
Today, Patrick Tlauka is applying his technical expertise and enthusiasm for technology to the future of electric mobility. But how did he decide to take on a career in this specific field in the first place?
“I wrote my diploma thesis in application technology and the daily work in application-oriented research has given me a lot of pleasure on the one hand, and on the other hand it has given me in-depth knowledge about our products. This job was the perfect start for me as a mechanical engineer,” says Tlauka, telling us about his beginnings at thyssenkrupp.
In a global group he is always in the know when it comes to the latest technical development and innovation. The opportunity to constantly develop and broaden both his professional and personal horizons is particularly important to Patrick Tlauka. This is made possible, among other things, by the lively exchange between the most diverse specialist departments – an attractive working environment for engineers, whose vocation lives from the enthusiasm and curiosity for new technologies and the striving for further development.