The Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) at the RWTH Aachen University has established an “escape room” where people have to work as a team to solve problems from the world of work in order to escape from the room.

So what does an adventure game inside an escape room have to do with the future world of work? Everything! Anyone, for example, who wants to outsmart a really mean mastermind, or find a well-hidden treasure before the rivals do, has to work as a team. Each member of the team uses their particular qualifications, optimally in perfect tune with each other, to work together and – with the aid of digital technology – to quickly find a solution to the problem.
Just like in the real world of work – for example in the production of goods – where all the stages of the production process are analysed, digitally networked and smoothly merged together until the finished product is produced.

Speed and quality
The Chair of Production Metrology and Quality Management at the WZL, led by Professor Robert Schmitt, has now established an escape room to allow the digitally networked work environment of the future to be experienced first-hand through playing a game. The starting point is a typical workplace in the production hall of a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME). The task of the small group of players locked in the room: to solve work-related, quality-relevant problems in the shortest possible time through strategic use of digital means and new technologies in order to escape from the room. A fundamental rule: always keep a strict eye on quality! After all, in production, high standards must be maintained.
Anyone can participate. The room is particularly designed for use by teams from producing SMEs and vocational school classes. Duration of a game cycle: approx. 30 minutes

For bookings, please contact Amelie Metzmacher
Tel.: + 49 241 80-26949; email: a.metzmacher@wzl.rwth-aachen.de
The escape room project is one of the winners of the university competition in “Science Year 2018 – Working Environments of the Future” and is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Grand opening of the Escape Room:
Thursday, 22nd November 2018, from 4 pm in Metzgerstraße 10, 52070 Aachen. More details in our Webkalender (German only).