To download a 300dpi print quality image, go to www.parkfield.co.uk APW wins manufacturing technology award Released 30 July 2002 APW, the technically enabled manufacturing services ("TEMS") company that designs and manufactures large, complex high precision infrastructure products for OEMs in the communications, computing and Internet markets, has won, against strong international competition, the Amada Award for technical excellence in sheet metal at the Fourteenth Annual precision sheet metal fair held in Kanagawa, Japan. The award was gained for a front panel assembly manufactured for one of the world’s largest computer companies. This particular unit is extremely complicated; the high volume progressive hard tool produces a complex prismatic structure, complete with EMC fingers, multiple perforations, burst extrusions and countersinks all formed into the sheet metal itself, so that no additional components are required after the panel has been formed, enabling unit costs to be held to a minimum. The panel is an outstanding example of the sophisticated products routinely produced by APW on a global scale to the highest quality standards. APW has more than thirty manufacturing sites around the world and the award-winning panel is a typical example of the global nature of the APW business. The Tool was designed in APW UK, working with the Toolmaker’s design facility in Taiwan, the tooling was debugged in Taiwan, pre-production manufacturing trials were in Scotland and high volume production is in Scotland and the USA, with deliveries to the customer’s production facilities in Greenock, Scotland and Raleigh, US. The project has only recently moved into the high volume-manufacturing phase; so far, more than 135k assemblies have been delivered. Each panel is produced in a single operation taking less than 5 seconds from the flat steel to the finished item ready for assembly. *** Ends: body copy 271 words *** Notes to Editors. Photograph shows L-R Robert Rennie, APW Robert Banks, APW Tom Lightley, Managing Director, Amada UK For further information: APW contact: Steve Goddard APW Electronics Electron Way Chandlers Ford Hampshire SO53 4ZR tel: + 44 (0)23 8026 6300 fax:+ 44 (0)23 8026 5126 steve.goddard@apw.com www.apw.com Agency contact: Nigel May Parkfield Parkfield House Damerham Hants SP6 3HQ tel: + 44 (0)1725 518321 fax: + 44 (0)1725 518378 Nigel_May@parkfield.co.uk www.parkfield.co.uk APW is a technically enabled manufacturing services ("TEMS") company that designs and manufactures large, complex infrastructure products for OEMs in the communications, computing and Internet markets.  APW  has particular skills in the areas of manufacturing enclosures, thermal management, power supplies and backplanes; as well as core competencies in product and system design, integration and supply chain management. APW operates in more than 30 locations throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.