Composite materials expert gets Lifetime Achievement Award

With more than 45 years of experience in the automotive industry, Mr. Frederick (Fred) Deans, P.E., is a well-known expert in composite materials and molding processes, product engineering, specification development, global sales and marketing, and new product introduction. He worked with companies like Continental Structural Plastics, AZDEL, Inc., General Electric Co., and Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG), particularly in the automotive, architectural, and industrial market segments of these companies.

This year, Mr. Deans is the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award winner by the Automotive Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE®). He will be honored for his role in leading automotive plastics and composites innovations during the 45th-annual Automotive Innovation Awards Gala on November 11, 2015 at Burton Manor.

The SPE Automotive Lifetime Achievement Award was introduced in 2000 and recognizes the achievements of individuals in research, design, and/or engineering, etc. which have led to the integration of plastic materials on passenger vehicles.  

One of Mr. Deans' major achievements is the development of the first unidirectional glass-mat thermoplastic (GMT) composites for new-generation automotive bumper systems. The first application of this technology was a single 12-million lb/5.4-million kg application program with a Japanese automaker. Within three years, every Japanese OEM was using GMT composite for bumper beams. Mr. Deans also managed the commercialization and use of next-generation direct-long-fiber thermoplastic (D-LFT) composites for passenger car underbody shields and underhood applications, as well as load floors for off-road vehicles and heating/ventilation/air-conditioning (HVAC) bases. He helped develop and commercialize an automotive glass-forming process and introduced monolithic tempered privacy glass for sport-utility vehicles (SUVs).

Mr. Deans is presently chief-marketing officer, and a co-founder and principal of Allied Composites Technologies, LLC (ACT) as well as the owner of F. Deans & Associates, a Michigan-based enterprise.