Saft honored with 2010 Defense Manufacturing Technology Achievement Award for work on the U.S. Army ManTech program

The award was presented November 30 at the Defense Manufacturing Conference in Las Vegas and highlights the technical accomplishments and partnership of Saft, the U.S. Army RDECOM-TARDEC and Army Research Lab to continuously improve the manufacturability and overall performance of Saft’s Li-ion batteries for defense applications.

“Saft is honored to be selected alongside the U.S. Army TARDEC and ARL as a recipient of the Defense Manufacturing Technology Achievement Award,” said Thomas Alcide, general manager of Saft’s Specialty Battery Group. “The advancement of our high power Li-ion technology has received much support from the U.S. Army TARDEC team and its commitment, which has led to significant improvements in our manufacturing processes.”

The ManTech program provides funding for the development of low-risk, affordable technologies for military systems. The goal is to improve production costs through product flow improvements, simplifying the design of manufactured products and reducing labor hours. Since receiving funding from ManTech in 2004, Saft’s Space and Defense Division has seen a fivefold increase in production capability, while also decreasing production costs on cells by 70 percent. These costs savings have enabled the U.S. government to recover the entire cost of the ManTech program based on current production orders, resulting in a projected savings of $26 million by 2013.

Award winners were selected based on a set of criteria, including manufacturing technology achievement, project results, transition/implementation, and potential or realized benefits. Saft was one of three winners selected out of twelve nominees.
Saft’s diverse Li-ion portfolio also includes high power, medium power and high energy solutions, with each of these product lines designed specifically for applications requiring either power, energy or a combination of both. Saft’s high-power Li-ion batteries are currently being used in several of the military’s hybrid electric armored demonstrator vehicles, including BAE Systems’ Non Line of Sight Canon (NLOS-C), Carnegie Mellon National Robotics Engineering Center’s Crusher robotic vehicle, General Dynamic Land Systems’ Reconnaissance Surveillance Targeting Vehicle (RSTV) and Advanced Ground Mobility Vehicle (AGMV), and U.S. Army TACOM’s High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV).