Dr. -Ing. Richter received his doctorate in 1991 from the Fraunhofer Institute IAO on the topic of "Knowledge-based CAD system components for designing products suitable for assembly" as part of the BMFT funding measure "Research Cooperation between Industry and Science". At Bosch, he was a plant manager in the USA and in Germany, responsible for the areas of consumer goods and automotive supply. In a central role, he was responsible for the design and global roll out of the Bosch Production System and finally for the design and implementation of a roll out strategy for I4.0 in an automotive division. Since 2019, Prof. Deuse and Dr. Richter have jointly headed the Institute of Production Systems.

• Production Systems
• Production Management
• Digitalization and Industry 4.0

1990- 1992 Department Manager Development "Technical Data Processing", Bosch Leinfelden

1992- 1995 Production Manager Power Tools, Bosch Murrhardt

1995- 2000 Plant Manager of the Power Tools site, Bosch New Bern/ USA

2000- 2002 "Vice President Manufacturing", responsible for 7 Bosch plants in Joint Venture Bosch/ Emerson Electric, Vermont American Tool Company, Louisville/USA

2002- 2010 Head of central project group "Bosch Production Systems

2011- 2016 Plant Manager and Senior Director, Bosch Waiblingen, Germany

2016- 2018 Project manager "Digitalization in Production", Bosch

Since 1/ 2018 Guest scientist at TU Dortmund University, Institute for Production Systems and employee at the Institute for Research and Transfer (RIF), Dept. Production Systems

Since 07/2019 Representative of the professorship and head of institute at TU Dortmund University, Institute of Production Systems

• Roser, Christoph; Lorentzen, Kai; Lenze, David; Deuse, Jochen; Klenner, Ferdinand; Richter, Ralph et al. (2017): Bottleneck Prediction Using the Active Period Method in Combination with Buffer Inventories. In: Lödding, Hermann, Riedel, Ralph et al. (Hg.): Advances in Production Management Systems. The Path to Intelligent, Collaborative and Sustainable Manufacturing. IFIP International Conference on Advances in Production Management Systems. Hamburg, 3.-7.09.2017, S. 374–381.
• Lorentzen, Kai; Maschek, Thomas; Richter, Ralph; Deuse, Jochen (2010): Systematic Approach for Variability Reduction as a Roadmap for Continuous Improvement in Flow Production. In: International Conference on Advances in Production Management Systems. Como, Italien, 11.-13.10.2010. International Federation for Information Processing.
• Dietz, Carsten; Richter, Ralph; Deuse, Jochen (2013): Variantenmanagement im Simultaneous Engineering. Ein Vorgehen zum Abgleich von Produktstruktur und Fertigungssystem. In: Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb (ZWF) 108 (5), S. 325–329.
• Lorentzen, Kai; Maschek, Thomas; Richter, Ralph; Deuse, Jochen (2011): Entwicklung einer Variabilitätstypologie. Grundlage für einen zielgerichteten, kontinuierlichen Verbesserungsprozess. In: Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb (ZWF) 106 (4), S. 214–218.
• Richter, Ralph; Deuse, Jochen (2011): Industrial Engineering im modernen Produktionsbetrieb. Voraussetzung für einen erfolgreichen Verbesserungsprozess. In: Betriebspraxis & Arbeitsforschung 207 (3), S. 6–13.