Backing the engineering sector’s celebration of collaborative innovation

We are delighted to be supporting the annual awards programme dedicated to recognising and celebrating the very best examples of engineering innovation achieved through a collaborative approach.

We are sponsoring the 2023 Collaborate to Innovate (C2I) Awards, which are organised by The Engineer and are now in their eighth year. In this year’s programme, we are the sponsor of the ‘Automotive’ category, a market sector we serve in the UK and globally through our extensive range of advanced fastening systems and our ability to co-develop new joining technologies.

The ethos of the C2I Awards aligns perfectly with EJOT UK’s collaborative approach to R&D and customer support. Working closely with OEMs and component manufacturers makes it possible for our team to design the most effective fastening solutions required to address the challenges of today and in the future. Hence why collaboration is central to our continuous new product development programmes.

Four collaborations have made it to the shortlist for the 2023 C2I Automotive Award. They are the ‘GKN Advanced research centre’, a project involving GKN Automotive, the University of Newcastle and University of Nottingham; ‘Kautex-Textron predicts fuel sloshing noise Monolith AI software’; ‘McLaren Applied and Elaphe EV powertrain’; and ‘Universal Battery Recycling System’ by Recyclus Group with the University of Birmingham.

Steve Wynn, UK Sales Manager for Industrial Fastening Solutions at EJOT said, “Collaboration is key to developing the best solutions to today’s engineering challenges, particularly in the automotive industry. Here, the transition from conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles to hybrid and electric technologies has succeeded by bringing together the best minds from across the sector and applying fresh ideas. EJOT has always advocated co-development to achieve optimised fastening solutions and we have seen numerous customers realise the benefits in the long term.”

Some fastening systems that we have developed collaboratively with customers have actually facilitated industry-wide change, such as the EVO PT screw. This is the latest generation of the original EJOT PT screw that unlocked the potential for the widespread use of thermoplastics back in the 1970s, and today it continues to raise the bar through its unique thread-forming zone that provides a virtually constant torque over multiple installation depths within a single assembly.

Another of our fastening gamechangers was the EJOT ALtracs Plus self-tapping screw for light metal. This has enabled customers to achieve production cost savings and component optimisation goals across a wide range of joining applications, and today different variants of the screw are being deployed in a number of key areas of EV (electric vehicle ) technology, most notably battery assemblies.

The 2023 C2I Awards finalists will be decided by a judging panel made up of experienced engineering professionals working in a diverse range of industry disciplines. They are:

• Dr Rachel Bishop, Deputy Director, Research Base, UKRI
• Rebecca Everitt, Director of Business Development & Partnerships,EngineeringUK
• Abbie Hutty, Lead Systems Engineer, ispace Europe SA
• Alan Newby, Director Aerospace Technology and Future Programmes, Rolls-Royce Plc
• Steve Penver, Group Head of Digital Integration, Babcock International Group
• Sue Simmonite, Global Project Management & Control Director, BAE Systems