IDEKO-IK4, Technology Centre carried off the overall prize “Manufacturer of the Year 2008” in the prestigious Strategic Manufacturing Awards 2008. The award was given last October 8th at the 4th European Manufacturing Strategies Summit held in Düsseldorf (Germany). IDEKO-IK4 was also awarded first prize in the category Green Manufacturing for an innovative process aimed at safe and ecological machining of magnesium, graphite or fibre-glass/carbon composites alloys.

The jury of the international Strategic Manufacturing Awards 2008 singled out the firm commitment to innovation and excellence in the field of competitive manufacturing as the main reasons to award IDEKO-IK4, technology centre with the overall prize Manufacturer of the Year 2008. More than 100 relevant and innovative companies from all over the world competed in this event, to name but a few: Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Bombardier, SAP, Danfoss, Proctec&Gamble or Baxter.
This Manufacturer of the Year 2008 overall award stands for the pinnacle in excellence in modern-day international manufacturing, acknowledging the path of the technology centre, which, according to the jury "has transferred and implemented the results of its research to a higher level of competitive manufacturing".
The Strategic Manufacturing Awards forms part of the European Manufacturing Strategies Summit which attracts managers from numerous international renowned businesses. In this year\'s conference general managers and production managers of some of the most important companies worldwide, active in a variety of sectors, take part: Hewlett-Packard, Danfoss, SAP, Bombardier, Microsoft, Rockwell, Coca-Cola, Fujifilm, Avon Cosmetics, Henkel, Kraft, Michelin or Nestlé, amongst others.
In addition to being given the highest recognition with the overall award, IDEKO-IK4 carried off first prize in the category Green Manufacturing in direct competition with projects presented by Microsoft, the pharmaceutical Piramal Healthcare and Curvaceous, active in the energy sector.
The project that succeeded in securing first prize in the category Green Manufacturing consists of developing clean cutting technology not using any lubrication applied to machining of magnesium alloys for the aeronautics and automotive sectors. This innovative system avoids the risk of explosion or ignition of magnesium chips and at the same time not only recycles waste from the latter material, but also achieves the same or a better production output, one of the most critical factors in high-production sectors such as the automotive sector.
This swarf removal system through the tool-holder-spindle assembly has been successfully put to the test in machining other material such as graphite, wood and carbon-fibre and fibreglass, which are widely used in manufacturing aeronautic structures, civil construction or high-tech sports articles. It is to be expected that the technology developed by IDEKO-IK4 becomes the international benchmark in machining potentially dangerous material.
Furthermore, the prize won in one of the six categories, Innovation Manufacturing, by the Basque technology centre Fatronik-Teknalia cannot go unmentioned. It may provide you with an idea of the quality of the research that goes on in the technology centres of the Basque Technology Network on an international scale.
The prize awarded to IDEKO-IK4 fortifies the commitment to innovation and transfer of results from research which have been a trademark from the beginning in the technology centre. Moreover, it has provided the definite impetus to one of its main strategic development lines: eco-efficient machining.