Oct 20 2007
The winners of this year's EPMA Excellence in PM Awards were honoured at a special lunch during the Euro PM2007 International Congress held at the Pierre Baudis Centre des Congres in Toulouse, France, with some 400 people in attendance at the luncheon ceremony.
The competition, which is open to all EPMA members, is split into four categories, Components - Structural, Components - MIM, Materials and Process Equipment as well as the prestigious International Award. In each category a panel of expert judges gave marks to each of the entries using the following five criteria:
- Excellence in exploiting PM
- Novelty, that is surpassing borders or bringing new ideas into practice
- Stimulation of further usage of PM technology
- Cost savings or improved quality
- Preparation of the Entry.
The 2007 EPMA Awards for Excellence in Powder Metallurgy, sponsored by Metal Powder Report, has been another difficult year for the judges to decide on. The level of quality from all the entrants has been raised once again, as the competition has attracted components from many industry-leading companies, such as mG minigears, last year's runners-up Ames SA, and Dorst Technologies, to name but a few.
Although a difficult task, the judges did decide upon which products were worthy recipients of the EPMA Award of Merit and the Highly Commended runners-up, as follows:
Category Components - Structural Parts:
Award of Merit - Sintertech SAS, France - Transfer case sliding sleeve
Highly Commended:
- PMG Fuessen Germany - P/M Sliding Sleeve
- MG Minigears Italy - Bevel Gear Set for Bush Cutter
Category Components - MIM parts:
Award of Merit - MIMItalia SpA, Italy - Double bulge diamond bead
Highly Commended:
- maxon motor GmbH, Germany - Guitar Tuner
Category Materials/Processing Technology:
Award of Merit - Uddeholm Tooling AB, Sweden - Uddeholm Vancron 40
Highly Commended:
- Dorst Technologies Germany - Powder Press TPA - HS
International Award:
Award of Merit: Hoeganaes Corporation, USA - AncorMax 200
Highly Commended:
- Acelent Technologies, Singapore - MIM ColdPlate
'The EPMA would like take this opportunity to thank the sponsors, Metal Powder Report, as well as all the companies that entered their components, materials and equipment into this year's competition, as without their continued support the competition could not be what it is' said Jonathan Wroe, Executive Director of the EPMA. He added: 'The EPMA looks forward to hosting another competitive awards competition in 2008, at the Euro PM2008 Congress & Exhibition in Mannheim, Germany.'