productronica's innovation award winners named

Falk Senger, Managing Director of Messe München, sees the award as an important source of momentum for the industry: "Electronics manufacturing is at the beginning of the value chain for electronics of the future—new technologies are developed and driven forward here. The large number of submissions shows how much innovative strength this industry has."

Winner, Semiconductors cluster: F&K Delvotec for its laser bonder

Winner, Future Markets cluster: Asys for PULSE

Werner Kreibl, Managing Director of the ASYS Group, commented “Winning the productronica innovation award for PULSE clearly states our product and development strategy in recent years. Industry 4.0 is our aspiration within the electronic industry to set standards for our customers in an international comparison and to remain competitive.”

Winner, PCB & EMS cluster: Fuji Machine for the SmartFAB

Klaus Gross, Managing Director of Fuji Machine MFG (EUROPE), on winning first place in the PCB & EMS cluster: "We are very pleased that we won the productronica innovation award for our new sFAB production cell. The sFAB machine is a solution that completes automation and production concepts in the context of Industry 4.0 & IoT. The award is an outstanding confirmation of the success of our product."

Winner, Cables, Coils & Hybrids cluster: Schleuniger for the CoaxCenter 6000

Christoph Schüpbach, CEO of the Schleuniger Group, sees the award as a motivator: "Our DNA drives us to perfect wire processing. It drives us to better understand today’s and future industry needs and to fulfill them with leading edge solutions. Our CoaxCenter 6000 is one of these solutions. It has won the productronica innovation award as a representative for our broad spectrum of innovations. I am also pleased that our employees were rewarded for their continuous and outstanding commitment."

Winner, SMT Cluster: Rehm Thermal for its reel-to-reel system

Johannes Rehm, Managing Director of Rehm Thermal Systems: "It is a great honour for us to be able to stand out from the many applications with our innovative reel-to-reel technology. The award highlights the importance of engaging in active research and driving forward new ideas in the electronics industry. The trade visitors showed great interest in the system at this year’s productronica, and we are delighted by the very positive response.”

Submissions were evaluated by a prominent panel of judges. They were: Professor Klaus-Dieter Lang from Fraunhofer Institute IZM, Professor Mathias Nowottnick from Rostock University, Dr. Martin Oppermann from the Dresden University of Technology, Professor Lothar Pfitzner from Fraunhofer Institute IISB, Dr. Eric Maiser from the VDMA and Christoph Stoppok from the ZVEI.

The productronica innovation award is the first independent award in the electronics manufacturing industry and is conveyed in close cooperation with the trade journal "productronic" (Hüthig Verlag).