Martin Bloemacher and Harald Neubert receive EPMA Distinguished Service Award
The European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) announced the recipients of its 2021 Distinguished Service Award during the opening session of Euro PM2021, held as a digital event for the second year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Since 1998, the EPMA’s Distinguished Service Awards have been presented in recognition of individuals who make an outstanding contribution to the European PM industry. Recipients are selected by the EPMA Council and receive their award at the association’s annual congress.
This year, the Distinguished Service Award was presented to Martin Bloemacher and Harald Neubert.
Martin Bloemacher
After studying physics at the University of Duisburg, Germany, Martin Bloemacher joined BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany, in 1987 and began work within the Carbonyl Iron Powder (CIP) Plant.
Having built up an application lab for CIP, he started to work on Metal Injection Moulding (MIM) as a part of his research. He went on to co-invent the Catamold system for MIM, and was a founding member of the Catamold group at BASF in 1990.
Bloemacher was instrumental in building Catamold production and application services in Ludwigshafen and the company’s site in Asia. He was a recipient of BASF’s innovation award in 1996 and has been a member of the EPMA Council since 2000. He retired from BASF in March 2021.
Harald Neubert
Harald Neubert received his diploma and PhD from the University of Essen, Germany, and went on to join Krebsöge Group in 1988, which later became part of the GKN group. He began working in Powder Forging at the Pulverschmiede Hueckeswagen facility and became plant manager in 1989.
During his time at the company he progressed to several senior management positions, becoming President, Asian Pacific and South American Operations in 2005.
In 2007 he joined Miba Sinter Group, Laakirchen, Austria, and was responsible for the groups technology and R&D. He became its CEO in 2008, retiring in January 2021.
Neubert holds a number of patents and is a long serving member of the EPMA Board and Council.
