12 Suppliers Win PACE Awards for Innovations

The winners of this year’s PACE Awards (Premier Automotive Suppliers’ Contribution to Excellence) for product and process innovations related to production vehicles include 12 companies from five countries.

The annual awards, which are sponsored by Automotive News, EY and the Original Equipment Suppliers Assn., are chosen by a panel of independent judges based on product innovation and market impact. The winners were selected from a group of 34 finalists. They were announced at a ceremony Monday night in conjunction with the start of the WCX 17 (formerly SAE World Congress) engineering show in Detroit.

Germany’s Schaeffler AG led the way with two awards. The company’s facility in Wooster, Ohio, won awards for an electromechanical active roll stabilizer and a one-way transmission clutch assembly.

Several of the winners were recognized for developing lightweight components, AN notes. Others innovations focused on advanced safety systems, efficient electrical systems, integrated designs and new manufacturing processes.

China’s SanHua Automotive earned an award for its electronic expansion valve, which lets air conditioners work with reduced compressor loads for improved vehicle fuel economy. And GKN Driveline was recognized for its integrated co-axial electric axle and electric motor system that enables hybrid-electric systems for global vehicle platforms.

The full list of winners and their innovations are:

• Continental: Electrical braking system
• Continental Structural Plastics (owned by Japan’s Teijin Ltd): TCA Ultra Lite composite for body panels
• Dana: Multi-layer steel transmission pump gasket
• Dayco: Activac vacuum generation system
• Delphi.: 76GHz Short-range radar for 360˚ sensing
• Denso: 4th-generation diesel common rail system
• Giffin: Wet-scrubbing technology for paint booths
• GKN Driveline: Co-axial electric axle
• JTEKT Toyoda: High-speed axis synchronization
• NVIDIA: Drive PX 2 -- In-car artificial intelligence supercomputer
• Sanhua Automotive: Electronic expansion valve
• Schaeffler: Electromechanical active roll stabilizer
• Schaeffler: One-way transmission clutch assembly

Three carmakers—BMW, Ford and Volkswagen—were recognized for their collaboration with suppliers. BMW was selected for its work with Delphi on a 3D gesture recognition system.

Ford teamed with Bosch and TI Automotive on a port-direct fuel-injection system. Volkswagen partnered with Honeywell on a variable-nozzle turbocharger for gasoline engines.