Joining Technologies establishes Thomas A. Edison Award for Technology Innovation
East Granby, Conn. – Joining Technologies Inc., an innovator in laser cladding, electron beam and laser welding applications, announces that it has established the Thomas A. Edison Award for Technology Innovation, which will be awarded periodically to vested associates of Joining Technologies and affiliate companies. The award focuses on young engineers and inventors, typically under the age of 30, who develop technology that has a significant influence on the industry in which it is deployed.
The award itself was conceived by company founder Michael Francoeur. “I have always been intrigued and fascinated by Edison," states Francoeur. “He is the icon of inventiveness in my book and I’m a big fan of his entrepreneurial acumen." When asked about the award guidelines, he said: “We’re keeping it informal for now. I envision the incumbent award holder to be responsible for choosing the next recipient. It’s how I believe Edison would have done it – with humility. Perhaps in the future it will evolve to include young inventors in the surrounding community.”
The first award recipient was Joining Technologies engineer Scott Boynton for his design and development of a revolutionary laser cutting and welding system for splicing virtually all weldable strip alloys. The machine, dubbed Infinite WebTM, replaces the arduous task of manually splicing metal coils in strip processing lines. The Infinite Web is reportedly delivering efficiency improvements of over 300% for these splicing operations.
“I truly believe Scott’s invention will revolutionize the steel converting and stamping industries,” said Dave Hudson, Joining Technologies president. “Companies are looking for longer and longer spools of material so they can reduce costly downtime taken by threading new spools into their machines. We want to celebrate his great achievement and set the bar high for others to develop and implement new and innovative technology.”