AAM Named One of Michigan’s Most Innovative Companies

Published on November 14, 2016

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Fast Facts

2016 R&D Investment

In 2016, AAM invested approximately $140 million into research and development.

American Axle & Manufacturing has once again been named to the Eureka Index of the Most Innovative Companies by Crain’s Detroit Business. AAM is tied for the No. 9 spot with 32 patents filed in 2015. This is up from last year, when AAM placed No. 19 in the annual list that ranks the most innovative 25 companies located in Southeast Michigan.

“AAM is a technology leader and being included on the list of the 25 most innovative companies further highlights all the work we’ve been doing,” said AAM Chief Technology Officer, Philip R. Guys. “Congrats to all our patent recipients for 2015 and let’s continue to work on further advancements in the areas of power density, mass reduction, efficiency, performance and cost reduction.

According to Crain’s, rankings are based on patent quality, the projected ability to bring the patents to market, and whether patent owners keep their patents or make them public domain. In 2015, there were 4,182 patent awards in Southeast Michigan, which for the report includes Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Livingston, St. Clair and Genesee counties, up from 3,957 in 2014. Total patent awards in the U.S. last year dropped slightly to 325,979 from 326,032 in 2014.

Key areas for AAM inventions include lightweighting, improving power density, improving fuel economy and managing torque.