MADISON HEIGHTS, Michigan, April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sika Automotive has won two awards in the 2015 Automotive News PACE (Premier Automotive Suppliers' Contribution to Excellence) Award competition. The gala award ceremony and announcements took place on Monday, April 20, 2015, at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit, Michigan. Billed as the "Academy Awards" for automotive suppliers, the PACE Awards honor game-changing innovations in product, manufacturing process and information technology. Sika Automotive was a product innovation award winner for its Sikaflex® Ultra-High Modulus Adhesive (UHM) for mixed material bonding and also took home an Innovation Partnership Award through its collaboration with BMW.
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Sikaflex® UHM is a high modulus, fast cure adhesive material currently used to bond the CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic) Life Module to the aluminum chassis Drive Module on the BMW i3 and i8. The innovative adhesive is ideally suited to support the industry with a solution for the growing demand in mixed material bonding. Its structural bonding performance must balance with the different thermal expansion of dissimilar materials, the "delta-alpha" effect. Further, the Sikaflex® UHM is based on Sika's innovative and patented i-Cure® technology, which ensures accelerated curing without changing the product's mechanical properties, while also reducing the carbon footprint in vehicle manufacturing. The innovation allows BMW to radically change the way the i3 is manufactured, away from conventional technique, and eliminates the complexity of traditional body shop welding.
The PACE Award committee also honored BMW and Sika Automotive with the Innovation Partnership Award. The panel reviewed the collaborative efforts of all 36 PACE Finalists with their respective OEMs and it recognized BMW for its unique high level of collaborative behavior with Sika Automotive in the development of BMW i3. Several factors, from the development of the innovation to the commercialization process, as well as the PACE judging site visit at BMW Leipzig demonstrated a proven collaboration initiative.
"It is truly an honor to win these awards. We are grateful for our long term partner BMW, as they had the foresight to bring truly innovative cars to the market. The mainstream use of mixed materials in automobiles has changed our industry forever. Today's cars require innovative products enabling OEMs to meet their manufacturing needs and performance goals. I am proud that Sika Automotive with its Sikaflex® UHM, SikaPower® MBX and SikaForce® products can provide the full range of technology to support our customers' lightweighting needs," says Dave Jones, President, Head of Global Automotive business.
The 2015 PACE Awards are jointly presented by EY, Transportation Research Center Inc. (TRC Inc.) and Automotive News. The winners are determined by an independent panel of judges. The event opens the SAE Week in Detroit and highlights the top automotive innovators in the world.
Visit www.sikaautomotive.com to learn more.
SIKA CORPORATE PROFILE
Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing and protecting in the building sector and the motor vehicle industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 90 countries around the world and manufactures in over 160 factories. Its approximately 17,000 employees generated annual sales of CHF 5.6 billion in 2014.
In the automotive sector Sika is an industry leader in the development and production of high performance acoustic, bonding, reinforcing and sealing systems. Sika provides automotive manufacturers with proven materials, application engineering, and validation expertise to improve interior sound quality and structural performance in vehicles worldwide. Sika Automotive optimizes cost effective, complete solutions in its dedicated, state of the art, Technology Center. For more information visit www.sikaautomotive.com.
