AVK Innovation Award 2011 for Dieffenbacher

Dieffenbacher wins the AVK Innovation Award for its direct process of manufacturing SMC components

The AVK - Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e.V. (Industrial Association for Reinforced Plastics) awards its much sought-after innovation prize annually for particularly outstanding developments in the area of reinforced plastics. Dieffenbacher has now won the prize for the second time in the "Industry" category; on this occasion it is in recognition of having developed the direct process for manufacturing SMC components. "The award is a major honor for us, and of course we are delighted to receive this recognition of the continuous development work which is taking place in our company," said Matthias Graf, Technical Director, during the award ceremony which took place as part of the Composites Night, representing the high point of the AVK's annual conference.

The technology of direct compounding bypasses the cost-intensive steps of banding, storage and logistics that used to be required for SMC preforms, and also ensures that further processing can take place in the press shop directly and in a stable process. The D-SMC process does not just offer economic benefits, however. It also makes a significant contribution to technical improvements in components with a consistent Class A quality. Dieffenbacher developed the direct process for manufacturing SMC components as part of a consortium involving the resin manufacturer DSM and the Fraunhofer Institute ICT.

Photo: The proud winners of the AVK Innovation Award 2011:
From left to right: Peter Hilzendegen, DSM Composite Resins; Matthias Graf, DIEFFENBACHER GMBH; Tobias Potyra , Fraunhofer ICT

Contact for further information:
Roger Kautz
Marketing and Communication
Tel. +49 72 62 65-224
Fax +49 72 62 65-420
roger.kautz(at)dieffenbacher.de

---