PORTAGE, Mich. -- CONTECH U.S., LLC, a Marathon Automotive Group Company, has won two prestigious awards in the 2008 International Die Casting Competition sponsored by the North American Die Casting Association (NADCA). The annual competition recognizes outstanding castings based on their design, quality, cost savings, ingenuity, innovation, and industry-changing potential.
CONTECH won the Aluminum, Squeeze/Semi-Solid award for a squeeze cast Rear Knuckle that is supplied to Jaguar for the XK8. This is a very large, complex component produced using CONTECH's P2000(TM) Squeeze Casting process. Steering knuckles are safety critical castings that must meet very tight requirements for mechanical properties and structural integrity. CONTECH's steering knuckle outperformed similar components from other casting processes as well as provided a significant weight savings for the customer.
CONTECH also won the Aluminum Die Casting Under 1 lb. category for the Rear Axle Thrust Rod used on the BMW X5 vehicles. This component, fully designed by CONTECH, replaced a multiple-part steel assembly and provided an approximate 50% weight savings for BMW over the previous design.
"CONTECH is again honored to receive this recognition from NADCA for providing highly engineered casting solutions for our customers," said Mark Hunter, President of CONTECH U.S., LLC. "Our close working relationship with our customers combined with our engineering expertise enabled CONTECH to optimize the customer's original designs for our processes and bring these new components to market successfully."
Brian Szymanowski, VP of Technology and Engineering commented, "This is the third consecutive year in which CONTECH has won the Aluminum, Squeeze/Semi-Solid category and the fifth time since 2001. This confirms CONTECH's role as a leader in the design, development and production of high- integrity, safety-critical castings for the automotive market."
CONTECH is a North American market leader of highly engineered, geometrically complex, light-weight cast component solutions for the automotive and light truck markets, and offers a wide variety of die cast process technologies in the industry and produces a full range of "thick wall" and "thin wall" cast components. In addition to its leadership position in cast products, CONTECH also manufactures steel forged automotive components and steel tube fabrications.
