NAVANTIA, CITD, ZAYER, CORREA Y SMART PM AND WINNERS OF THE 2022 INNOVATION IN ADVANCED AND DIGITAL MANUFACTURING AWARDS

The award ceremony for the National Award for Innovation in Advanced and Digital Manufacturing was held on 16^th of June at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre (BEC) during the Machine Tool Biennial. The event was organised by AFM Cluster with the support of the BEC and Beaz (Biscay Innovation Agency).

The award ceremony was presided over by Ainara Basurko, Provincial Minister for Economic Promotion of the Provincial Council of Biscay, who was accompanied by the General Director of Industry and SMEs of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Galo Gutiérrez, the President of AFM Cluster, José Pérez Berdud, the Managing Director of AFM Cluster, Xabier Ortueta and the BEC Managing Director, Xabier Basañez.

The jury, composed by representatives from Beaz, Bic Gipuzkoa, CDTI, Eide, Ergogroup, Ihobe, Mondragon University, Osalan, Spri, Tecnun-University of Navarre and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has taken into account the criteria of technology, innovation, design, ergonomics, safety and sustainability when deciding the winners of the awards.

The Award for Innovation in Machine Tools was awarded to the company ZAYER for its “AETOS machining centre” where the jury valued aspects related to ergonomics and ease of use for the operator.

The Award for Innovation in Parts, Accessories and Tools was awarded to the company NICOLÁS CORREA for its “BM-180 fully interchangeable boring bar”, which represents a veritable conceptual leap forward.

In the same category, the company SORALUCE received a special mention from the jury for its “DWS (Dynamic Workpiece Stabiliser) Active Workpiece Shock Absorber”.

The Award for Innovation in Additive and 3D Manufacturing has been awarded to the company NAVANTIA, for its “Hybrid rudder blade made using large-format additive manufacturing”. The Jury wanted to reward its design and advanced and highly innovative hybridisation of processes.

The Award for Innovation in integrating 4.0 concepts into advanced manufacturing systems was awarded to SMART PM for its “Intelligent management platform for MIC manufacturing processes”.

A new feature this year was the award for the most innovative start-up in the advanced and digital manufacturing field, selected from among all the companies that competed in any of the first four categories (machine-tools, parts, additive and 4.0 concepts). The prize was awarded to CITD, for its extraordinary journey in the development of a new product through to its certification and industrialisation.

The Innovation Awards ceremony also included two further awards, the AFM-SIF (Manufacturing Engineering Society) Awards for the best end of degree project in 2021 and 2022 related to the machine-tool sector. The prize for the 2021 edition was awarded to Mikel González, from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), with the project “Design and validation of robotic cell finishing processes for aeronautical components” and the prize for the 2022 edition was awarded to Guzmán Domínguez, from the University of Cadiz, with the project “Influence of laser texturing on the tribological behaviour of AISI 630 Stainless Steel”.