This year, the Hephaestus Award will be bestowed to Mr. John Hubbard, P.E. for his contribution to the development of heat treating worldwide. Mr. Hubbard devoted his entire career to the thermal processing industry and was a driving force behind the remarkable growth story of Bodycote, the world’s leading provider of thermal processing services. Under his leadership, Bodycote expanded rapidly from a UK-focused heat treater to the preeminent global company. He made over 200 acquisitions before retiring to return to the United States in 2009. Mr. Hubbard didn’t stay away for too long. Earlier this year, he came out of retirement to return to the heat treating business, working with Calvert Street, a private US investment firm, both as an investor and a board member.
The Hephaestus Award recognizes contributions made by academic and industrial researchers and industry leaders to the field of heat treating that have had an impact on surface engineering, materials science, and industrial processes or production techniques. Past recipients of the Hephaestus Award include Prof. Jan Tacikowski of the Institute of Precision Mechanics (2005), Dr. Kiyoshi Funatani (2010), Dr. George Totten (2013), and Dr. Dieter Liedtke (2015).