At the NXT Faculty of Sustainability and Technology, international engagement is evident not only in day-to-day student life but also in specific projects. Students work alongside international corporate partners on real-world challenges, gain experience during a semester abroad, and bring these perspectives back into their studies. On this page, we showcase selected projects and testimonials.
International Projects in our Master degrees
In the summer semester 2026, students of the Master’s programme Operations Management (MOM) are undertaking an international factory planning project with project partner RE:CIRCLE Ontario LLC, USA. The focus is on the greenfield planning of a production facility for the processing of pre-consumer food and food residues from retail, grocery, food producers, and distribution centers into high-quality animal feed or feed for energy targeting zero waste to landfill. The project highlights the international practical orientation of the MOM programme at Reutlingen University.
The project objective is the development of an optimised production process for a new site to significantly increase processing capacity. Students conduct an on-site analysis of the existing facility in the USA, map value streams and material flows, and create a digital 3D model using the factory planning software visTABLE®.
Based on a weak point analysis of the as-is factory, an expanded equipment and technology concept is developed. The concept targets increased throughput as well as more efficient and future-proof process design. The to-be factory, modelled in visTABLE®, is evaluated in cooperation with the ENGINEERING LAB on the immersive 3D-VR Powerwall. This methodology integrates factory layout planning, digital twin modelling and virtual validation within an international industry project.
The project underlines the international approach of the MOM programme: students work on real-world challenges with international partners, apply English-language technical terminology and utilise digital tools in a global context. Through collaboration with RE:CIRCLE Ontario LLC, students gain insights into international production structures, regulatory frameworks such as California’s SB 1383 organic waste diversion requirements, and contribute to sustainability in line with the NXT Faculty’s mission of Sustainability and Technology.
A key learning outcome for the team is the insight that optimal solutions often emerge when a familiar problem is approached from a completely new perspective, enabling seemingly fixed constraints to be shifted or entirely resolved.
Project Team: Felix Degen, Philip Fuchs, Maximilian Kermer, Anmol Ranger, Dominik Rempp, Philipp Rist, Marc Seifert and supervisor Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Augustin, Head of ENGINEERING LAB.
