Research Institute for Operations Management

The Institut für Kunststoffverarbeitung in Industrie und Handwerk (IKV), the Institute for Plastics Processing in Industry and Trade at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Germany, is a teaching and research institute for the study of plastics technology. It stands for practice-oriented research, innovation and technology transfer. The focus of the IKV is the integrative view of product development in the material, construction and processing sectors, in particular in plastics and rubber. The sponsor is a non-profit association that currently includes around 300 companies from the plastics industry worldwide (as of December 2018) and through which the institute maintains a close connection between industry and science. In addition, the IKV is a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen "Otto von Guericke" (AiF).The institute was founded in 1950 and, with around 350 employees, has become Europe's largest research and training institute in the field of plastics technology. The first head of the institute was Karl Krekeler, followed in 1959 by A. H. Henning. From 1965 to 1988 Georg Menges headed the institute, and Walter Michaeli until his retirement in 2011. Since 2011, the current head of the institute, and at the same time managing director of the association, is Christian Hopmann. He also holds the Chair for Plastics Processing within the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University.

The Ponttor in Aachen, Germany, (known in the 17th and 18th centuries as the Brückenpforte or Brückenthor) is one of the two remaining gates of the original city wall of Aachen (the other being the Marschiertor). The westernmost of the north-facing gates (the other being the Sandkaultor, which no longer exists), the Ponttor was built in the 14th century and manned by soldiers and militia throughout the Free Imperial City of Aachen era. Today, the Ponttor is used by German Youth and Scout groups belonging to the German Scout Club (1945) and the German Scout Association Saint George.

RWTH Aachen University (German: [ˌɛʁveːteːˌhaː ˈʔaːxn̩]), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen,: 301  Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen,: 85  University of Aachen,: 167  or Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study programs, it is the largest technical university in Germany. In 2018, the university was ranked 31st in the world university rankings in the field of engineering and technology, and 36th world-wide in the category of natural sciences.RWTH Aachen in 2019 emerged successfully from the final of the third federal and state excellence strategy. The university will be funded as a university of excellence for the next seven years. RWTH Aachen was already part of the federal and state excellence initiative in 2007 and 2012. Since 2007, RWTH Aachen has been continuously funded by the DFG and the German Council of Science and Humanities as one of eleven (previously nine) German Universities of Excellence for its future concept RWTH 2020: Meeting Global Challenges and the follow-up concept The Integrated Interdisciplinary University of Science and Technology: Knowledge, Impact, Networks, also receiving grants for associated graduate schools and clusters of excellence. The university regularly accounts for the highest amount of third-party funds among all German universities, placing first per faculty member and second overall in the most recent survey from 2018.RWTH Aachen is a founding member of the CESAER association of universities of science and technology in Europe, and IDEA League, a strategic alliance of five leading universities of technology in Europe, as well as its German counterpart TU9. It is also a member of DFG and the Top Industrial Managers for Europe network.

The Battle of Aachen was a combat action of World War II, fought by American and German forces in and around Aachen, Germany, between 2–21 October 1944. The city had been incorporated into the Siegfried Line, the main defensive network on Germany's western border; the Allies had hoped to capture it quickly and advance into the industrialized Ruhr Basin. Although most of Aachen's civilian population was evacuated before the battle began, much of the city was destroyed and both sides suffered heavy losses. It was one of the largest urban battles fought by U.S. forces in World War II, and the first city on German soil to be captured by the Allies. The battle ended with a German surrender, but their tenacious defense significantly disrupted Allied plans for the advance into Germany.

Aachen Town Hall (German: "Rathaus") is a landmark of cultural significance located in the Altstadt of Aachen, Germany. It was built in the Gothic architecture style in the first half of the 14th century.

The Aachen tramway network (German: Straßenbahnnetz Aachen) was the backbone of public transport in Aachen, now in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the surrounding areas from 1880 to 1974. The track gauge was 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in), see Nordrhein-Westfalen. At times, the network also extended into Belgium and the Netherlands. At its maximum extent, its route length was 181.4 kilometres (112.7 mi) and its line length was 213.5 kilometres (132.7 mi). In 1914, it was the fourth largest tramway network in Germany. Also, it was one of the most extensive German interurban networks. In 1974, the last tramway in the network was closed. The network was operated from 1880 by the Aachener und Burtscheider Pferdeeisenbahn-Gesellschaft (in English: Aachen and Burtscheid Horse Railway Company), which in 1894 became the Aachener Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft (AKG, in English: Aachen Light Railway Company). In 1942 the name was changed to Aachener Straßenbahn und Energieversorgungs-AG (ASEAG, in English: Aachen Tramway and Power Company). It is now a bus company, but the company name still refers to trams.

The Aachener Thermalquellen, also known as the Thermal Springs of Aachen and Burtscheid, are a system of more than 30 thermal mineral springs located in the area around Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), Germany. The area has been known for its hot sulfur springs for thousands of years. The hot mineral water aquifer flows from the Upper Devonian limestones that meet the Variscan thrust front of the Rhenish Massif, and flow through the city center of Aachen in a 500m long by 50m (maximum width), that emerges from the source at numerous spring heads. Four of these spring heads are still accessible; two are managed. The hot spring flow from Burtscheid (a district of Aachen) is 2200m long with numerous spring heads. The hot springs have been used for balneotheraputic purposes since the early Roman settlement in Aachen. The historical political and economic growth of Aachen developed around the springs, in particular mineral water production, the spa and bathing sector, and the textile industry. Later the Franks arrived. The first known written text about Bad Aachen (Aachen baths) is linked to the Frankish king, Pippin the Short. Charlemagne inherited Pippin's manor at Bad Aachen sometime after 766 AD.Aachen came to be known as an elegant European spa town where personages such as George Frideric Handel, Albrecht Dürer, Voltaire, and Peter the Great "took the waters” at Bad Aachen.

Aachen ( AH-khən; German: [ˈaːxn̩] (listen); Aachen dialect: Oche [ˈɔːxə]; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle;) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th-largest city of Germany. It is the westernmost city in Germany, and borders Belgium and the Netherlands to the west, the triborder area. It is located between Maastricht (NL) and Liège (BE) in the west, and Bonn and Cologne in the east. The Wurm River flows through the city, and together with Mönchengladbach, Aachen is the only larger German city in the drainage basin of the Meuse. Aachen is the seat of the City Region Aachen (German: Städteregion Aachen). Aachen developed from a Roman settlement and thermaecode: lat promoted to code: la (bath complex), subsequently becoming the preferred medieval Imperial residence of Emperor Charlemagne of the Frankish Empire, and, from 936 to 1531, the place where 31 Holy Roman Emperors were crowned Kings of the Germans. One of Germany's leading institutes of higher education in technology, the RWTH Aachen University (Rheinisch-Westfälisch Technische Hochschule Aachencode: deu promoted to code: de ), is located in the city. Its university hospital Uniklinikum Aachen is Europe's largest single-building hospital. Aachen's industries include science, engineering and information technology. In 2009, Aachen was ranked eighth among cities in Germany for innovation. The regional dialect spoken in the city is a Central Franconian, Ripuarian variant with strong Limburgish influences from the dialects in the neighbouring Netherlands. As a Rhenish city, Aachen is one of the main centres of carnival celebrations in Germany, along with Cologne, Mainz and Düsseldorf. The culinary specialty for which the city is best known is Aachener Printen, a type of gingerbread.

The Cross of Lothair or Lothair Cross (German: Lotharkreuz) is a crux gemmata (jewelled cross) processional cross dating from about 1000 AD, though its base dates from the 14th century. It was made in Germany, probably at Cologne. It is an outstanding example of medieval goldsmith's work, and "an important monument of imperial ideology", forming part of the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, which includes several other masterpieces of sacral Ottonian art. The measurements of the original portion are 50 cm height, 38.5 cm width, 2.3 cm depth. The cross comes from the period when Ottonian art was evolving into Romanesque art, and the engraved crucifixion on the reverse looks forward to the later period.

The Palace of Aachen was a group of buildings with residential, political, and religious purposes chosen by Charlemagne to be the center of power of the Carolingian Empire. The palace was located north of the current city of Aachen, today in the German Land of North Rhine-Westphalia. Most of the Carolingian palace was built in the 790s but the works went on until Charlemagne's death in 814. The plans, drawn by Odo of Metz, were part of the program of renovation of the kingdom decided by the ruler. Today much of the palace is destroyed, but the Palatine Chapel has been preserved and is considered a masterpiece of Carolingian architecture and a characteristic example of architecture from the Carolingian Renaissance.

The Aachen Cathedral Treasury (German: Aachener Domschatzkammer) is a museum of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen under the control of the cathedral chapter, which houses one of the most important collections of medieval church artworks in Europe. In 1978, the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, along with Aachen Cathedral, was the first monument on German soil to be entered in the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The treasury contains works from Late Antique, Carolingian, Ottonian, Staufen, and Gothic times. The exhibits are displayed in premises connected to the cathedral cloisters.

The Proserpina sarcophagus is a Roman marble sarcophagus from the first quarter of the third century AD, in which Charlemagne was probably interred on 28 January 814 in Aachen cathedral. It is displayed today in the Aachen Cathedral Treasury.