03 Nov 2003

EPMA Innovation Awards Presented at PM2003 in Valencia

Made in recognition of outstanding technological achievements by its member companies, the European Powder Metallurgy Association Innovation Awards are an important showcase for PM technology. This year produced an especially high quality of entrants, which were independently judged by referees from five different European countries. The winners were announced at the plenary session of the successful PM 2003 Congress & Exhibition in Valencia, Spain which took place 20-22 October. Dr Cesar Molins, President of the EPMA, presented the awards in four categories. The first of these categories was the Award Of Merit in the field of Components, which was won by Parmaco Metal Injection Moulding AG from Switzerland with a mounting unit for a Leica Geosystems measuring system. In the second category of Processing Technology, the Award Of Merit went to Osterwalder AG, also of Switzerland, for the new innovative three-level programming tool, “PRP for cutting tool inserts” on their CA-NC II powder press. The Award Of Merit in the Materials Category went to the Fraunhofer Institute - IFAM from Bremen, Germany, for their work in developing and introducing a novel and innovative steel powder mixture, named LaserTool, which has been developed for rapid prototyping, tooling and manufacturing using Direct Metal Laser Sintering. Finally, the acclaimed EPMA International Powder Metallurgy Award for 2003 went to Advanced Materials Technology Pte Ltd of Singapore, for the production, using the MIM process, of a Mechanical Connector. Designed for use within a Pressure Reducing Regulator for natural gas pipelines, its role is to maintain a desired outlet pressure whilst providing the required flow to satisfy variable downstream demand. In addition to the winners above, four companies were highly commended for their entries, these were Komage Gellner GmbH, German, Sinterstahl Gmbh, Germany, Pometon SpA, Italy and Pacific Sintered Metals, USA. The next awards in the series will be made at the PM 2004 World Congress & Exhibition, to be held in Vienna, Austria, 17-21 October 2004 and details of how to apply will be made available shortly. To receive further information of all the award winners and highly commended entries please contact the EPMA or click here to go to the Awards section of the website.