With just a month to go until Tire Technology Expo 2018 gets underway in Hannover, Germany, the shortlisted nominations for this year’s Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence have been revealed!
The awards are decided by the votes of a 30-strong panel of experts from the tire industry and academia. The winners will be announced during the Expo at a Gala Dinner in Hannover on the evening of February 21.
Materials innovation is at the heart of this year’s shortlist as the tire industry addresses the often conflicting challenges of better tire performance and reduced environmental footprint. As such, there are several nominations for new materials initiatives by tire makers and expert suppliers in the Tire Manufacturing Innovation and Environmental Achievement categories.
Cutting-edge development and test technologies feature in the Tire Technology of the Year category, where the use of digital tools and innovative laboratory-testing techniques is recognized.
And as always, the Tire Manufacturer of the Year award will be closely fought between four global tire makers. Two of them – Apollo Tyres and Hankook – opened advanced new factories in the past 12 months, reflecting the tire industry’s continuing shift to flexible, highly automated manufacturing technologies.
The shortlist in full:
Tire Manufacturing Innovation of the Year
Bartell – Automatic Truck Bead Apex System
Eastman – Crystex Cure Pro
Ferm – RFID mold solution
Versalis – BDSPs (butadiene di-block stereoregular polymers)
Environmental Achievement of the Year
Apollo Tyres/RRI – Epoxide natural rubber
Goodyear – Soybean oil initiative
JK Tyre & Industries Ltd
PPG/US DOE – Treated silica/NR truck-tire compound
Tire Technology of the Year
MegaRide – thermoRIDE / adheRIDE modeling tools
Nokian – Functional stud concept
NTRC – Asphaltant
Trelleborg – PneuTrac off/on highway tire
Yokohama – Informatics-based design
Tire Industry Supplier of the Year
Bartell Machinery Systems
Black Donuts Engineering
Cabot Corporation
Smithers Rapra
Tire Manufacturer of the Year
Apollo Tyres
Goodyear
Hankook
Pirelli
In addition, the 2018 Young Scientist Prize and Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented on the night. These two prizes are subject to separate judging processes.
The awards are coordinated by Tire Technology International magazine, which is published by UKi Media & Events, the organizer of Tire Technology Expo. For full details of 2017’s winners, click here.
For more information on Tire Technology Expo 2018, head to www.tiretechnology-expo.com.
