During this year’s North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), presented its 2018 annual Industry Innovator and Community Hero awards.

These accolades were presented to two distinguished honourees who are championing the use of advanced high-strength steel (AHSS). The awards presentation took place at a press briefing at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The Industry Innovator Award was presented to Jack Dolan of FCA US LLC for his work with the steel industry on innovative AHSS solutions on current and future FCA vehicles. Dolan is the Architecture Line Executive for Large Vehicles at FCA and leads the application and advancement of AHSS and FCA’s ongoing use of steel in their vehicles exemplifies this. His dedication to innovation in steel helped reach the efficiency goals for the award-winning Chrysler Pacifica Minivan, as well as driving innovative use of steel solutions for future FCA products.

The Community Hero Award recognizes individuals and organizations whose work using steel impacts the quality of life of the community. The 2018 recipient is Dr. Donald Malen of the University of Michigan. Malen is an adjunct faculty member where he teaches graduate level courses in Automobile Body Structure and Product Design. Previously, he was an engineer with General Motors Corp., where he worked on vehicle structure design for 35 years. Malen continues to work closely with the steel industry where he has assisted with the development of the WorldAutoSteel Design Advisor software to enable material decisions based on the A2Mac1 historical automotive benchmark database.

“The continued use of steel shows the resilience of the industry and the recognition of its strength, durability and value by automakers and consumers alike,” said Jody Hall, Vice President of the Automotive Market for SMDI. “We are extremely pleased to honour Jack and Don for their continued efforts to drive automotive innovation through the use of steel.”