The global site of the UK's leading magazine for automation, motion engineering and power transmission
28 March, 2024

LinkedIn
Twitter
Twitter link

Motor control designer chosen as ‘engineer of the year’

19 May, 2017

Graham Fick, technical director of the Yorkshire-based motor controls manufacturer Zikodrive, has won the “engineer of the year” award at the 2017 Motion Control Industry Awards, held in Birmingham, UK. He won the award for his work designing and developing the company’s ZDBL range of compact, custom-programmed brushless motor controllers.

Zikodrive, located in Hebden Bridge, was launched in 2015, with its first products appearing the following year. Fick says: “As the main design engineer for the company I have obviously taken a lot of credit for the products we have developed, but I would also like to highlight the important work done by my colleagues, particularly MD and co-founder, Phil Bates”.

He adds that Zikodrive’s enquiries and sales have been growing consistently “and this latest recognition can only help”. The company’s controllers are now being used by UK companies, as well as being sold into Europe, North America and the Middle East.

Other 2017 award-winners included:

•  Manufacturer of the year: ABB

•  Contribution to skills and training: the Bosch Rexroth Challenge

•  Technical innovation of the year: JCB Hydradig excavator

•  Project of the year: Bosch Rexroth for an offshore wind farm piling template

Graham Fick, winner of the 2017 MCIA engineer of the year award (right), with the comedian Dominic Holland, who hosted the event

•  Environmental/energy efficiency award: Gardner Denver for its Robox energy screw compressor

•  Distributor of the Year: Thorite

There were also lifetime achievement awards for Gary Wyles, former MD of Festo GB and now owner of E3 Leadership & Development, and Derek Turnbull.

The awards – now in their second year – were made at a ceremony at the National Conference Centre, hosted by the comedian and entertainer, Dominic Holland. Unlike the first event in 2016, the 2107 awards were not held at the same time as allied exhibitions including the Drives & Controls Show and Mach at the nearby NEC. Despite this, Chris Buxton, CEO of the British Fluid Power Association, reports that the awards “still enjoyed high attendance with most of the key industry players in attendance… 2018 will once again see the awards dinner co-located with the industry exhibitions so I have no doubt that the next event will be even better.”

The awards are backed by the Motion Control Alliance consisting of the BFPA, the British Fluid Power Distributors Association and the British Compressed Air Society.




Magazine
  • To view a digital copy of the latest issue of Drives & Controls, click here.

    To visit the digital library of past issues, click here

    To subscribe to the magazine, click here

     

Poll

"Do you think that robots create or destroy jobs?"

Newsletter
Newsletter

Events

Most Read Articles