Investor Relations

Nominations accepted from automotive OEMs and suppliers to promote innovative solutions for vehicle weight reduction 

TROY, Mich., March 8, 2017 – Altair has announced that four new judges from around the world have joined the already impressive list of renowned automotive industry leaders serving on the 2017 Altair Enlighten Award panel. The award, which promotes innovative lightweighting strategies employed by automotive manufacturers and suppliers, welcomes Dr. Mark White, former Chief Body Complete Business Unit, Body Engineering at Jaguar Land Rover, Dr. Frank Zhao, Professor and Director of Automotive Strategy Research Institute at Tsinghua University in China, Dr. Ichiro Kageyama, Professor and Director of the Center for Automotive Research at Nihon University in Japan, and Ken Fouhy, Managing Director of VDI Verlag GmbH and Editor in Chief of VDI nachrichten to the judging panel.

Now in its fifth consecutive year, the Altair Enlighten Award is the automotive industry’s only award program created specifically to acknowledge achievements in vehicle lightweighting. The addition of these four individuals not only enhances the breadth of knowledge of the award’s judging panel, but also more accurately reflects the increasingly international profile of the Altair Enlighten Award.

Weight reduction is one of the keys to successful automotive design,” said Mr. Fouhy. “As Europe’s best read publication for engineers, VDI nachrichten is happy to extend the reach of the Enlighten Award to design engineers in Germany, Europe’s automotive heartland.”

Returning judges from the 2016 award panel are:

• Dr. Jay Baron, President and CEO, Center for Automotive Research and Director of CAR’s Coalition for Automotive Lightweighting Materials (CALM)


• James Brancheau, Member of the Board of Directors and former Chief Technical Officer at Altair


• Harvey Bell, Clinical Professor of Engineering Practice and Co-Director, Multidisciplinary Design Program at the University of Michigan


• Gary Latham, Director of Design Engineering at Pratt & Miller Engineering


• Dr. Imtiaz Haque, Founding Chair and Executive Director of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research


• Dr. Clemens Schmitz-Justen, Founder and Head of Strategic Consulting, CSJ Schmitz-Justen & Company, former director of international programs at the Clemson University College of Business and Behavioral Science, and former president of BMW Manufacturing LLC in Spartanburg, S.C.


• Chris Theodore, President of Theodore & Associates automotive industry consulting; former CEO of ASC, Inc., vice president of Ford Motor Co. and senior vice president of DaimlerChrysler; and former executive director of North American advanced vehicle development at General Motors.


• Ryan Gehm, Editor-in-Chief, Truck & Off-Highway Magazine at SAE International.

“We’re extremely happy to welcome our new judges to the panel for this year’s Altair Enlighten Award,” said Dr. Jay Baron, President and CEO of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR). “Together the 2017 judging panel will be tasked with debating and separating nominations from across the automotive world. With lightweighting technologies and methodologies ever evolving in the automotive industry to meet weight and emissions targets, I’m very excited to see the diversity in this year’s entries.”

“This year’s judging panel brings even more talent to our panel, with the addition of four highly respected individuals from APAC and EMEA, together representing a broader perspective of lightweight design applied in the global automotive industry,” said Richard Yen, Senior Vice President, Automotive and Global Markets Team at Altair. “While choosing the most innovative lightweighting solutions from such highly acclaimed automotive OEMs and suppliers is never an easy decision, the relevant experience and knowledge of these individuals guarantees that they are the most qualified to make the call.” 

The award program honors companies in full vehicle, module and enabling technology categories for innovative examples of lightweighting. The winners will be announced during the CAR Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, MI on July 31st, 2017. The award is held in collaboration with CAR, media partners SAE International and media sponsor Automobil Industrie.

Manufacturers and suppliers interested in submitting a nomination for the Enlighten Award are able to access additional information about the process, or submit an entry, at www.altairenlighten.com/award. Nominations are being accepted now through May 26, 2017. To allow sharing of innovation while respecting the business and technical confidentiality of all applications, designs submitted must be implemented on a production vehicle produced between August 2014 and August 2017, with no geographical restrictions. 

About Altair ProductDesign

Altair ProductDesign is a global, multi-disciplinary product development consultancy of more than 700 designers, engineers, scientists, and creative thinkers. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Altair Engineering Inc., this organization is best known for its market leadership in combining its engineering expertise with computer aided engineering (CAE) technology to deliver innovation and automate processes. Altair ProductDesign firmly advocates a user-centered, team-based design approach, and utilizes proprietary simulation and optimization technologies (such as Altair HyperWorks) to help clients bring innovative, profitable products to market on a tighter, more efficient time-scale.

About Altair
Founded in 1985, Altair is focused on the development and application of simulation technology to synthesize and optimize designs, processes and decisions for improved business performance. Privately held with more than 2,600 employees, Altair is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA with more than 50 offices throughout 22 countries, and serves more than 5,000 corporate clients across broad industry segments. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com.

Media Contacts:
Altair Corporate, Americas and Asia Pacific
Biba A. Bedi
+1.757.224.0548 x 406
biba@altair.com

Altair Europe, the Middle East and Africa
Evelyn Gebhardt
+49 6421 9684351
gebhardt@bluegecko-marketing.de