Plastics Engineering Specialists Recipients of Brose Award 2008

Graduate engineer Peter Gutmann, postdoctoral research fellow for the department of Polymer Materials at the University of Bayreuth and Stephan Große, Dr. Eng. of Topas GmbH, Dresden, are this year's recipients of the Brose Award, which the company has donated in recognition of their collaboration with the scientific research group, Plastics Technology (WAK) for the Development of New Processes and Technology for Processing Plastics.

Earlier this month in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Dr. Peter Weidinger, who is responsible for developing new materials in the Brose Group, presented the Brose awards—which included a 9,000-euro endowment—to both specialists in plastics engineering during the tenth anniversary celebration, which marked the founding of the Institute for Polymer Materials and Plastics Engineering (PuK).

The scientific research group, which includes 22 of the most renowned professors from German universities in the field of plastics engineering, annually awards a total of six prizes in three special topics categories, with two prizes in each area going to a student who is writing his master's dissertation and another who is a doctoral candidate.“By conferring the Brose Award, we want to make young
specialists in the engineering and scientific disciplines aware of the attractive opportunities in the field of plastics engineering. We would also like to point out that engineers in this field can exercise a high degree of creativity since this material lends itself to many different possibilities for design and application. Moreover, in showing our high level of commitment, we want to demonstrate that in our company, which is experiencing a great deal of growth, plastics specialists will encounter fascinating challenges and will be
able to rapidly assume responsibility for projects,” Dr. Peter Weidinger emphasized during the presentation.

As founders of the award, Brose's goal is to maintain close contact with specialists in the the WAK research group, to increase thecompany's profile among professionals, and to meet promising young specialist trainees from among university graduates. Plastics are an increasing percentage of the local content in vehicle doors, and are becoming increasingly significant in manufacturing Brose products.

In developing new door system concepts that are individually customized to customer specification, the company is also dedicated to developing expertise during the course of in-house production of plastic functional substrates. Brose first started producing functional plastic substrates in-house at the Upper Franken plant in Hallstadt in 2008 as the result of a customer project.