Prof Igor Gorlach

Prof Igor Gorlach

Distinguished Professor, Unisa (virtual)

CNA 3

Automotive

New-energy Vehicles, the Changing Global Automotive Economy, and Sustaining the Local Automotive Industry

Prof Igor Gorlach was recently appointed as a distinguished professor at Unisa, in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. As leader of the university’s automotive catalytic niche area, Gorlach will develop synergistic collaborations between Unisa and the automotive sector to enhance human resource development and bring about benefits to communities at large.

The title of distinguished professor is reserved for above-scale scholarly leaders who have achieved the highest levels of scholarship over the course of their careers. Distinguished professors will typically have earned national and international level distinctions and honours of the highest level.

Gorlach is the Isuzu Chair of Mechatronics and holds a master’s degree from the University of the Witwatersrand and a doctoral degree from the North-West University. One of his main tasks at Unisa is to drive the university’s automotive catalytic research niche area. A key strategic aim of this niche area is to provide assistance for manufacturing-related development and problem solving at the original equipment manufacturers, as well as at local automotive suppliers in tier 2 and 3 levels in South Africa.

Prior to joining Unisa, Gorlach has led demonstrable industry-based research projects which were carried out by third-year undergraduate students through the Isuzu Chair of Mechatronics. These included designing a torquing station for automatic transmissions for Isuzu bakkies, improving the material supply chain of the Isuzu truck cabins from the storage to assembly area, and developing a method to handle truck chassis that are shipped in containers from Japan.

Source: Automotive industry giant joins Unisa as distinguished scholar