SPE Announces Date and Theme of Automotive Innovation Awards.
Press Release Summary:
Built around Plastics Drive 54.5 theme, 42nd annual Automotive Innovation Awards Gala will be held November 7, 2012 in Livonia, MI. Returning SPE Automotive Innovation Awards chair Jeffrey Helms said SPE Automotive Division hopes to help drive higher plastics use in tomorrow's passenger vehicles by drawing attention to how plastics can help automakers meet U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations of 54.5 mpg required by 2025 as well as maintain other important benefits.
Original Press Release:
SPE® Announces Date, Location, and Theme for 42nd-Annual Automotive Innovation Awards Gala
TROY, (DETROIT) MICH. - The Automotive Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE®) today announced the date, location, and theme for its 42nd-annual Automotive Innovation Awards Gala, the oldest and largest recognition event in the automotive and plastics industries. This year's event will be held Wednesday, November 7, 2012 at Burton Manor (www.burtonmanor.net) in Livonia, Mich.
Jeffrey Helms, global automotive director, Ticona Engineering Polymers, who returns as the 2012 SPE Automotive Innovation Awards chair said, "With automakers facing tougher emissions and fuel-economy standards in nearly every geography, and vehicle lightweighting a key strategy for hitting those numbers, this year's theme is Plastics Drive 54.5. Plastics and composites are the real lightweight materials and they can help transportation OEMs improve vehicle range - whether you're driving a conventional internal combustion engine, a hybrid, or a plug-in electric vehicle. With polymers, you can also reduce costs, eliminate secondary operations, improve aesthetics, and better manage energy in a crash for better passenger safety. By drawing attention to how plastics can help automakers meet new U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations of 54.5 miles/gallon1 required by the year 2025 as well as maintain other important benefits, we at the SPE Automotive Division hope to help drive higher plastics use in tomorrow's passenger vehicles."
SPE's Automotive Innovation Awards Program is the oldest and largest competition of its kind in the world. Dozens of teams made up of OEMs, tier suppliers, and polymer producers submit nominations describing their part, system, or complete vehicle and why it merits the claim as the Year's Most Innovative Use of Plastics. This annual event typically draws 600 to 800 OEM engineers, automotive and plastics industry executives, and media. As is customary, funds raised from this event are used to support SPE educational efforts and technical seminars, which help educate and secure the role of plastics in the advancement of the automobile.
The mission of SPE is to promote scientific and engineering knowledge relating to plastics worldwide and to educate industry, academia, and the public about these advances. SPE's Automotive Division is active in educating, promoting, recognizing, and communicating technical accomplishments for all phases of plastics and plastic based-composite developments in the global transportation industry. Topic areas include applications, materials, processing, equipment, tooling, design, and development.
For more information about the SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Competition and Gala or to download nomination forms and rules for this year's competition, please visit the SPE Automotive Division website at speautomotive.com/inno and speautomotive.com/awa, or contact the group at +1.248.244.8993, or write SPE Automotive Division, 1800 Crooks Road, Suite A, Troy, MI 48084, USA.
For more information on the Society of Plastics Engineers or other society events, visit the SPE website at www.4spe.org, or call +1.203.775.0471.
® SPE is a registered trademark of the Society of Plastics Engineers.
