The “Production System for Human Skin” which was developed jointly under the leadership of Professor Heike Walles at the Fraunhofer IGB together with the Fraunhofer Institutes for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA, Production Technology IPT and Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI, was one of the prizewinners in the 2011 nationwide innovation competition “365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas”. On October 26, 2011 the “Skin Factory” – one of 2600 entries sub-mitted – was honored in Stuttgart as a chosen “landmark”, having convinced the independent judging panel. With this first fully automated production system some five thousand postage stamp size skin models can be produced every month and used to test the irritative potential of cosmetics and the toxicity of chemicals realistically, thus reducing the need for animal experiments.