About us
Christoph and Thomas combine 50 years of leadership experience working on numerous projects in various industries and management positions.
Our Philosophy
We generate solutions in the field of lightweight engineering and are exploring the limits of feasibility. We guide projects from an early stage to ensure that the concept is driven down a path of composite manufacturing friendly design, avoiding late stage roadblocks, changes, or costly surprises. This also applies to our other fields of engineering.
Dipl.-Ing.
Thomas Hahn
Degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Stuttgart.
Early work experience in structural
consulting and services Automotive/Aerospace, civil and plant engineering.
Managing position at BMW
Project management MINI body-in-white, Lead - development strategy - lightweight and efficiency.
Oracle’s America’s Cup Team:
Structural design and optimization of the yachts from 32nd to 35th edition of America's Cup.
Managing director iXent GmbH and iXent Sports GmbH.
Dipl.-Ing.
Christoph Erbelding
Degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Stuttgart.
Early work experience in structural
consulting and services Automotive (structural optimization, passive safety), consumer products, software development.
Managing position at BMW: Overall development concept vehicle MINI. Lead - vehicle weight strategy of small car range and “project i”.
Oracle’s America’s Cup Team: Structural design and optimization of the yachts from 32nd to 35th edition of America's Cup.
Managing director iXent GmbH and iXent Sports GmbH.
Philosophy and where we origin from
With the experience of various senior positions in their professional careers in multiple large cooperations (BMW Group, Mercedes Benz) and in professional racing teams the two Aerospace Engineers Christoph Erbelding and Thomas Hahn founded iXent GmbH in 2011.
The main driver for the spin-off from a comfortable large cooperation employment into the uncertainty of a small business was the desire to use all our experience and help customers to shorten development time and make impossible things happen. We are driven by engineering curiosity of all sorts and very often we stick almost too emotionally to the products we are developing.
The focus of iXent’s work lies in applied lightweight construction and in particular in the structural design and manufacturing of fiber composite components and systems. Thomas and Christoph collected the necessary experience in various industries such as Aerospace, Automotive, Civil Engineering, Automation and Professional Racing.
iXent GmbH is an internationally respected and sought after development company, which focuses on the development of lightweight structure through different industries.
Methodical, scientific work in research and development, coupled with a pragmatic approach to complex topics is the core value of iXent’s philosophy.
Manufacturing know-how is essential both in a prototype environment as well as in series production applications, especially when it comes to composite materials. The knowledge of the limitations of manufacturing methods is of great importance. In practice, it is evident that the technical limitations of the production often determines the final design of the product.
One of the highlights in iXent’s achievements were the AC33 and AC34 America's Cup victories of Oracle Team USA, where Christoph and Thomas had significant influence on the development as core members of the team.
iXent is well-established in the development of lightweight, high performance structures in the international sailing scene as well as in other racing sports (automotive, Bob sleigh, etc.).
As to iXent’s own products, we are developing and building a high performance Bob Sleigh succeeding and broadening our engagement after the successful aerodynamic development of the gold winning 4 – man bob sleigh at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
