Named after the award sponsor, Professor Dr. Günther Zäpfel (former head of the Institute of Production and Logistics Management between 1974 and 2010, first under the name "Institut für Fertigungswirtschaft und Betriebsinformatik", and then under the name "Institut für Industrie und Fertigungswirtschaft"), Prof. Dr. Zäpfel played a key role in significantly shaping the institute's quantitative, analytical direction.

The respective thesis supervisor can nominate outstanding Master’s theses written at the PLM Institute between May of the previous year and June of the awarding year, graded with a “Sehr gut”. The proposed theses must be of a high, scholarly and scientific level, contributing significantly to methodological practices and supporting hands-on, real-world approaches. The award winners are selected in consultation with Professor Zäpfel.

• Jakob Berndorfer for his Master's thesis titled: "Modeling and Solving A Real-World Machine Scheduling Problem with Bounded Tardiness and Processing Set Restrictions" epub-pdf, opens an external URL in a new window

• Martin Hofwimmer for his Master's thesis titled: "Routing a Mixed Fleet of Battery Electric and Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicles - A Model Based Approach" epub-pdf, opens an external URL in a new window

• Agnes Ebner for her Master's thesis titled: "Evaluation of the Concept of Trailer Pooling for a Food Retailer using Mathematical Programming" epub-pdf, opens an external URL in a new window

• Xenia Haslinger for her Diploma degree thesis titled: "Das emissionsfreie Fleet Size and Mix Vehicle Routing Problem mit unterschiedlichen Reichweiten - ein metaheuristischer Lösungsansatz" epub-pdf, opens an external URL in a new window