AP&T wins Enlighten Award 2017: Latest sensation to hit the market for lighter and more energy-efficient cars, including lower impact on the climate | AP&T

Proud winners and organizers: From left, Judging Chair Dr. Jay Baron, president and CEO of CAR (Center for Automotive Research); Dr. Christian Koroschetz, CTO, Technology Development at AP&T; Magnus Baarman, CEO at AP&T and Richard Yen, senior vice president, Automotive and Global Markets Team at Altair.

AP&T has been awarded first prize in the prestigious 2017 Altair Enlighten Award competition in the Enabling Technology category. AP&T was recognized for its innovative production method for hot forming of high-strength aluminum, which enables the production of lighter, safer and more energy-efficient cars that have a lower impact on the climate. The results of the competition were presented on July 31 at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Michigan, USA.

“We are very honored to receive the 2017 Enlighten Award,” says Magnus Baarman, CEO at AP&T. “This is important recognition of our efforts to help our customers consistently produce lighter, safer and more energy-efficient products that have a low climate and environmental impact.”

AP&T's aluminum forming technology is the world’s first multi-purpose production line for high-strength aluminum sheet metal. The technology enables flexibility in the forming of high-strength car body components with complex shapes, and enables weight savings of between 30% and 50%.

“The multi-purpose production line we have developed enables outstanding flexibility in the forming of high-strength aluminum components as well as additional freedom of design, making function and part integration possible in new ways," says AP&T CTO, Technology Development Christian Koroschetz.

The Altair Enlighten Award honors the greatest achievements in vehicle weight savings each year in order to inspire interest from policymakers, educators, students and the public, create further competition for new ideas in the industry and provide an incentive to share technological advances. The judges for the award are a combination of automotive experts from industry, academia and engineering media from across the world who debated the merits of each of the 29 finalists. FCA, Toyota and Faurecia were also named winners in other categories.