NEWS
JEC Composites, the largest composites industry organization is granting its Innovation Award to the Modulo bus family as the winner in its category for its self-supporting, modular, full composite body designed by Hungary's evopro and manufactured by Russia's NCC.
JEC 2016 Innovation Award
The world's largest composites industry organization has chosen winners in 28 categories for its JEC Innovation Award. The award was established in 1998 with the goal of seeking out and recognizing the most innovative composite solutions worldwide. Representing its 250'000 professional members Frédérique Mutel, Group President and CEO of JEC has highlighted that this year the jury had a tough job picking the best projects. The competition was made stronger not only by the increased number of applications and by the large variety of products, but also by their high quality. The best products in each category were chosen based on their technical excellence, market potential, cooperative development, economic and environmental impact, and originality. The international nature of the Innovation Award is illustrated by the fact that the winners came all over from Europe, the Americas, and Asia. The winners of the Urban Transportation Category, evopro and NCC (Nanotechnology Center of Composites), are joined by such prominent manufacturers as KTM Technologies from Austria, BMW and Audi from Germany, ACCIONA Infrastructures from Spain, Sonaca from Belgium, Bally Ribbon Mills from the US, Faurecia Automotive Exteriors from France, and Automobili Lamborghini from Italy.
Modulo bus at the JEC World Show in Paris
Between March 8-10 the award winning products will be on display at the JEC World Show in Paris, the largest and most supported trade fair for the composites industry that is five times larger than any of the other trade fairs of its kind. Visitors will be able to take a closer look at the award-winning Modulo which will be represented by an 8m long, purely electric drive vehicle made for the Budapest Transportation Company (BKV). The award ceremony will take place on March 8 at 5 PM where the winners will present their products and the technologies used to make them during short presentations.
Innovation in bus manufacturing
The vehicle's shape was designed by Maform studio, while its manufacturing technology was designed by the evopro engineering group in Hungary and perfected by NCC in Russia. The design resulted in a self-supporting, fiberglass-composite sandwich construction body with a thin cross-section that provides a unique solution to bus manufacturing. Its modular design allows for cost-effective mass production, and the same module types can be bonded together with the same manufacturing process to produce different length vehicles. Important advantages of the award-winning body frame include its ultralight weight resulting in lower fuel consumption and thus lower emissions; and the self-supporting composite body is corrosion free, resulting in lower maintenance costs. The modular design provides a competitive edge over traditional steel-body buses because it is more cost-effective and allows for faster manufacturing.
JEC's international press release: http://www.jeccomposites.com/press/press-releases/jec-group-celebrates-composites-innovations-jec-world-2016-and-rewards-28-champ
