Intelligent Manufacturing Award - 2025
The Jury

October 29, 2024

Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award

The winners of the Intelligent Manufacturing Award will be chosen by an Advisory Board consisting of top-class decision makers from industry, technology companies, and consulting firms.

The top-class jury will evaluate each case and select a total of six winners who set benchmarks in the implementation of digitalization and Industry 4.0 with their exceptional use cases.

Jury members

Jury

Dr. Christof Bosbach

President of the Division Board, DIEHL Metering GmbH
In addition to his role at DIEHL, Dr. Christof Bosbach is a member of the Advisory Board of the MIOTY Alliance and a member of the Industry Advisory Board at Microsoft Germany. His work focuses on digital transformation in the corporate environment and the shift away from pure play manufacturing companies towards service and solutions providers.

Jury

Jochen Gleisberg

Senior Partner Operations, Roland Berger
Jochen Gleisberg is a member of the Industry Advisory Board at Microsoft Germany and Co-Head of the Operations Practice Group at Roland Berger in the DACH region. In this role he is a trusted advisor to the automotive and industrial sector. He has extensive project experience in this field, particularly in engineering, procurement and production.

JURY

Nico Hartmann

Manufacturing Industry Lead, Microsoft
Nico Hartmann is responsible for Microsoft’s business with clients in the Manufacturing industry in Germany and builds on operative management experience in the industry as well as more than 15 years in strategy consulting for Manufacturing customers. His teams support these clients in their transformation journey – both in IT and business transformation.

Jury

Muntaser Kalahji

President and COO, SHURFAH HOLDING

Muntaser Kalahji is the President and Chief Operations Officer for Shurfah Holding, a conglomerate group present in diverse business sectors, among them: Real Estate Development, Industry, Recycling and Circular Economy, Food & Beverage Education and Investments. He has extensive project experience in this field, particularly in industry and investment.

Jury

Timo Kistner

EMEA Industry Lead - AI for Manufacturing and Industrial, NVIDIA

Timo Kistner drives NVIDIA’s business with companies in the Manufacturing and Industrial sectors, including semiconductor, electronics, machine building and aerospace as well as chemicals and transportation & logistics. In his role and beyond, Timo Kistner is a trusted partner and thought leader on key technology and business trends for the industry.

Jury

Dr. Stephen Travers

Head of Digitalization, Production System and Automation Technology, Mercedes-Benz Dr. Stephen Travers is responsible for the digitalization of the Mercedes-Benz production and supply chain, Mercedes-Benz Production System (MPS), and Global Automation Technology. As the head of the “MO360” digital production ecosystem, Dr. Travers is driving holistic and sustainable digitalization throughout Mercedes operations.

Jury

Riccardo Picca

Executive Director - Global Operations Transformation, Sandvik Coromant
Executive Director - Global Operations Transformation, Sandvik Coromant.
Riccardo Picca works as an Executive Director - Global Operations Transformation where he is responsible for the operations transformation of all production sites focusing on digital, high-tech, lean manufacturing and sustainability.
He has a M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico of Milan, a M.Sc. Industrial Engineering at Ecole Centrale de Lyon and did his Executive MBA at the SDA Bocconi – Milan

Jury

Dirk Ramhorst

CIO / CTO
Dirk Ramhorst is one of the leading managers of the digital transformation: he was the first Chief Digital Officer (CDO) on the German DAX market and after 8 years at BASF he joined Wacker in 2016 as CDO and CIO. In 2018, CIO magazine named him one of the top CIOs in Germany. After an additional step in the chemical industry he has operationally left Evonik as CIO in Summer 2024 and he is currently in transition in a new role and enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Jury

Arno Reich

Senior Vice President Trade Fair & Product-Management, Deutsche Messe AG
Arno Reich is Senior Vice President and member of the Management Board at Deutsche Messe AG where he is responsible for trade shows on Industry, Energy & Logistics in Germany and abroad, including the flagship HANNOVER MESSE. A business administration graduate, he is also a member of the Supervisory Board at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).

Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award 2025

Organized by Microsoft and Roland Berger, the 2025 Intelligent Manufacturing Award celebrates thought leaders who are driving innovative industry solutions.

Award