This year, 142 individuals received patents for their innovations. In addition to honouring patent winners, a number of individuals were recognized by their peers and the company for contributions in five key areas:
The Technology Achievement Award recognizes a material, product, process or method that has made an extraordinary contribution to Donaldson’s long-term success. This year’s award winner was the Seal Lock design team of Steven Gieseke, Retired Air Business Development Manager, Gert Proost, Senior Manager Engineering, and Mathijs Verstraete, Senior Manager Engineering.
The Technology Champion Award, which recognizes an individual advancing a technology or process against popular opinion which is later recognized as the right thing to do, went to Kirit Patel, Senior Manager Business Development at Donaldson.
Senior Engineer Bart Catoor received the Emerging Innovator Award, which honours innovative technical leadership from relative newcomers at Donaldson.
The Richard M Negri Manufacturing Excellence Award goes to an individual who has created and implemented significant process technology and product improvements for manufacturing operations. This year’s winner was Johan Debackere, Senior Manager Supply Chain.
The Frank A Donaldson Award, named after Donaldson’s founder, is presented to an individual for outstanding, long-term engineering achievements. The winner of this award was Dan Adamek, Director Engineering.
Donaldson currently has 2,805 active US and international patents with 72 new patents being awarded in the last year. Donaldson says that the patents, and the people responsible for the research and work behind them, are key to the company’s continued leadership in filtration.
“Donaldson’s global engineering, technology and operations teams develop the innovative solutions and technologies that help us fulfill our purpose of Advancing Filtration for a Cleaner World,” said Michael Wynblatt, Donaldson chief technology officer. “I’m happy to have the opportunity to recognize these innovators; they are key to our continued leadership in filtration and expertise in micromaterials and chemistry, unlocking growth opportunities in bioproduction and fuel cells.”
