Audi Tool Trophy awarded for second time

How can ultra-high-strength steel panels be joined together? What alternative concepts are there for building prototype tools? What are the latest methods for monitoring the quality of components in the press shop? These are the questions being examined by the winners of the 2009 Audi Tool Trophy. Production chief Frank Dreves recognized six students yesterday for their outstanding student research projects and theses. The winners received cash awards of either €1,000 or €2,500.

“The automobile production of the future is facing an entirely new set of challenges, which is why we are constantly searching for innovative ideas and creative minds for our production operations,” said Frank Dreves, Member of the Board of Management for Production at AUDI AG. “After the great success in the last year, there was no doubt that we were going to award the Audi Tool Trophy a second time.”

The car maker invited the six candidates with the best research projects or theses to Ingolstadt for the awards ceremony yesterday, at which the students also presented their work. Guests included the professors of the student nominees and high-ranking managers from AUDI AG.

“Audi Toolmaking plays a key role in the company’s value-added chain. It is responsible for the high quality of the bodies and ensures that the designs created by the Audi designers are transferred to series production with uncompromising precision,” says Michael Breme, Head of Toolmaking at Audi. “With the Audi Tool Trophy, we give students the opportunity to get deeply involved in practice and also contribute new ideas.”

A selected jury evaluated the applications with respect to their technical creativity, their feasibility, their scientific quality and the progress relative to the current state of the art. An important factor was a holistic approach that considered every step from recognition of the need for innovation to the development of a product.

Numerous students entered the competition. “The Audi Tool Trophy is unique in Europe. The innovation prize allows us to foster students and showcase Audi Toolmaking as an attractive employer,” explains Michael Groß, Head of Personnel Marketing at AUDI AG.

The winners of the 2009 Audi Tool Trophy:

In the category Pressing Tools

· 1st place: Hannes Mautz, diploma thesis: System Development and Closed-loop Control for a Grinding Robot, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria

· 2nd place: Christian Held, diploma thesis: Validation of the Material Characterization Process Chain for Shaping Simulation, Stuttgart University

In the category Body Shop Equipment

· 1st place: Mirco Bach, diploma thesis: Investigation of Solid Punch Rivets Shaped in Multiple Stages for Joining Ultra-high-strength Steel Panels in Body Manufacturing, Chemnitz Technical University

· 2nd place: Eva Lutmayr, diploma thesis: Development and Assessment of a Furnace Concept for Hot Sheet Forming, Munich Technical University

In the category Student Research Projects