The professorship deals with teaching and research in the fields of primary and forming technology, machining and material removal technology as well as production planning in parts manufacturing and production automation. Since fall 2018, the professorship has been under the management of the institute.

The professorship deals with the development of processes and tools in the fields of thermal joining (welding, soldering), bonding, forming and mechanical joining (screwing, pressing) as well as hybrid joining and is dedicated to the holistic planning of assembly, handling and joining processes.

The professorship deals with the development of new laser-based methods and technologies for the high-speed structuring of large surfaces in order to equip them with a wide variety of structures in the micro- or sub-micrometer range. This gives the surfaces new functions and properties.

Von 1997 bis Oktober 2018 wurde die Professur von Prof. Dr. Eckhard Beyer geleitet. Gleichzeitig war er ebenfalls Leiter des Fraunhofer IWS in Dresden. Die Themen der Professur werden derzeit aktualisiert, da sich ihre Denomination ändern wird. Seit 2023 wird die Professur von Prof. Andés Lasagni kommissarisch geleitet. Die Laserthemen sind in diesem Zuge mit in die Professur für Laserbasierte Fertigung übergegangen.

The professorship emerged from an industry-related endowed professorship and deals with the research and development of particle beam-based tools with atomic mechanisms of action and their application in processes and process chains, e.g. for the production of modern optical surfaces. Here, accuracies in the single-digit nanometer range are required on complex surface contours such as aspheres and free-form surfaces.