According to ReMaTec News, this brings the jury to four leading industry experts and adds a U.S. dimension to the award, which is known as the most prestigious honor in automotive and commercial vehicle remanufacturing.
“Doug Wolma has been a leading light in the reman industry for several years and we welcome him on board.” says Chairman William Schwarck. “He will bring a lot of additional expertise to our panel of judges, on a practical and theoretical level, and we greatly appreciate his willingness to invest his time and vast experience in strengthening the panel.”
Wolma recently left his position as global remanufacturing manager at Meritor to take up a new position within the Dana Holding Corporation. At Meritor, Wolma was a driving force behind the company’s rise as one of the world’s foremost remanufacturing companies. ReMaTec News says he will now be responsible for driving Dana’s expansion into remanufacturing.
The Remanufacturer of the Year Award was founded in 2005 by ReMaTec News, and is now in its 10th year. The prize is awarded to a person or business that has served the automotive or heavy-duty remanufacturing with particular distinction. Over its lifetime the award has celebrated the achievements of some of the reman industry’s prominent names, ReMaTec says.
For the first time, the 2014 Remanufacturer of the Year award ceremony will take place in the U.S. on Nov. 1, 2014 during the new Big R/ReMaTecUSA exhibition in Las Vegas.
Schwarck says there are two reasons for this choice, “One is our wish to mark the beginning of a new stage in the relations between the organizers of the world’s two largest reman events: ReMaTec and APRA. The other is that the increasing globalization of remanufacturing will, inevitably, lead to closer links across the Atlantic as well as across the world. Therefore, it is only fitting that the world’s most prestigious distinction in remanufacturing is also awarded outside its original home in Europe.”
The other three judges are Volker Schittenhelm of FIRM, the European Association of Engine Rebuilders, Fernand Weiland, a former Chairman of APRA Europe and William Schwarck, Chairman of the panel and Editor-in-Chief of ReMaTec News.
