The American Composites Manufacturers Association’s ACE Awards, sponsored by Composites One, and ACMA Awards honor composites innovation and industry leadership
Nov 2, 2015, (Arlington, Va.) – At the second annual Composites and Advanced Materials Expo (CAMX) the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) presented four ACE Awards in three categories recognizing outstanding achievement and innovation in technology, manufacturing and product development.
This year’s winners are:
Design Category:
- The Most Creative Application Award was presented to the composites product that showcases composites use in a unique and new application or use composites’ attributes in imaginative, innovative, or artistic ways. This year, the award was presented to Kingetics LLC of Kihei, Hawaii for its Advanced Composite Orthotic Systems.
Manufacturing Category:
- The Materials and Process Innovation Award was presented to a material or process that best contributes to efficient manufacturing and product sustainability. This year, the award was won by QA1 Precision Products of Lakeville, Minn. for Nanosilica Infused Resin to use in Automotive Driveshafts.
- The Equipment and Tooling Innovation Award was presented to the equipment, tooling, production aid or software that is designed to improve manufacturing production, environmental sustainability, or product quality and performance in composites manufacturing. This year, e-Xstream engineering of Hautcharage, Luxembourg won the award for Productive Engineering Software for Virtual Allowable Generation.
Market Growth Category:
- The Infinite Possibility for Market Growth Award was presented to the composites product that demonstrates the potential to significantly increase the use of composites in existing markets or generate the greatest impact to open new and emerging markets for composites. This year, Strongwell Corporation of Bristol, Va. won the award for Composites Help Steer Toward a Wireless Road Infrastructure.
In addition to honoring industry innovations with the ACE awards, ACMA also recognized the exceptional people who have played a great role in advancing the field of composites through the years.
The Chairman’s Award is an ACMA tradition, chosen by the chairman of the ACMA board. Current chairman Jeff Craney gave the award to Lori Luchak-Olund of Miles Fiberglass & Composites, Inc. for her enthusiasm, creativity, leadership and dedication to ACMA and the composites industry. Luchak-Olund is a past president of ACMA and a past President of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Society of the Plastics Industry and the North Clackamas County Chamber of Commerce. She sits on the board of Clackamas Academy of Industrial Science High School, Oregon Manufacturer Extension Partnership, Boy Scouts of AmericaCascade Council, Clackamas County Business Alliance and the Oregon Workforce Investment Board. Last year, the National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) Manufacturing Institute awarded her with a Women in Manufacturing STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) Award.
The Outstanding Volunteer Award was given to ACMA members who have contributed significant volunteer time and effort to achieve positive results on behalf of the industry through service to ACMA. This year, the Outstanding Volunteer Award went to go Ed Pilpel, President of Polystrand. Pilpel has over 35 years of experience in composites manufacturing, product development and composites recycling and reuse. During the past 25 years at Gordon Composites and Polystrand, he has developed and marketed new products and composite materials utilizing a variety of matrix systems and fibers. He holds over 25 patents and has authored a number of papers. He has served as the Subcommittee Chairman for the ASTM Committee on snow skis and as the Delegation Chairman on Snow Skis to the ISO Standards Group. He currently serves on ACMA’s Green Composites Committee (GCC) as the Chairman of the Recycling Subcommittee, which recently conducted a successful evaluation of the business case for recycling glass fiber that is converted into another use.
The ACMA Hall of Fame honors those who have attained distinction among their peers through their efforts, involvement and accomplishments in the composites industry and its associations. This year’s inductee is Scott Lewit, President of Structural Composites. Lewit is co-inventor of the resin recirculation molding process and the patented PRISMA preform technology. He is also the inventor of the patent pending co-cure strain tunable resin and gel coat technology. In addition to his 14 patents, Lewit was a contributing editor for Composites Manufacturing magazine for more than a decade. He was also managing director for the U.S. Navy’s Marine Composites Technology Center, where he also served as chairman of the Executive Steering Committee in 2002. In October 2013, he was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year at the Florida TechXpo, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Florida TechXpo the following year. In 2011, 2012 and 2013, Structural Composites was awarded Congressional Medals of Merit from Congressman Bill Posey for outstanding achievement.
ACMA’s Lifetime Achievement Award is given to someone who has been involved in the composites industry for at least 20 years, who has made a significant and lasting contribution to the industry. The 2015 ACMA Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Bill Kreysler, President of Kreysler & Associates. Kreysler is founder and CEO of Kreysler & Associates, a custom molder of fiber-reinforced products in Napa County, Calif. The firm has been awarded numerous awards for excellence in the manufacture of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) architectural products, industrial products, and large-scale sculptures. He has also served as chair of the Napa Valley Workforce Investment Board, President of the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) and as chair of the ACMA Architectural Products Division. Kreysler is also a founding member and president of the Digital Fabrication Network, an international organization of cross-industry professionals working together to improve processes and accelerate the adoption of digital fabrication tools and techniques.
