Akio Kitamura, CEO of GIKEN LTD., Japanese First Receive the Ben C. Gerwick Award 2018

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2018.1.31 NEWS RELEASE

On 5 December 2017, Akio Kitamura, CEO of GIKEN LTD., is the first Japanese received the Ben C. Gerwick Award 2018 hosted by the Deep Foundation Institute (DFI).

DFI is an international association founded in New Jersey in 1976, for the purpose of continuous development in the construction and excavation planning/design of deep foundations. Over 3,300 members including prime contractors, engineers, manufacturers, suppliers and researchers from various countries are promoting development of deep foundation industries through the activities such as educational programmes, conferences and publication.

The Ben C. Gerwick Award was established in 2008 in honor of the great achievements by late Dr. Ben C. Gerwick who took active parts worldwide in the fields of in-water foundations and underground foundations at great depth. It is an international prestigious award giving to innovative activities, especially in ocean foundation industries, by the committee of ocean foundations in DFI.

Akio invented the Silent Piler, a pollution-free pile press-in/extraction machine, in 1975. It was the first practical application of the press-in principle in the world. Even now after 51 years passed company founding, he has continuously and energetically been promoting disaster prevention and infrastructure maintenance by the Implant Method globally.  Since the great effect by his unique engineer technology has been affecting many structures over the world beyond just those in in the field of ocean foundations, his achievement became widely well-known and awarded the prize as the first Japanese. Commendation ceremony is scheduled at IFCEE※1, an international congress of underground development technology, to be held during 5 – 10 March 2018 in Orlando, Florida, USA.

For more information: GIKEN LTD.
International business planning section, International business department
Phone: +81-88-846-2980 (08:00-17:00 Mon. to Fri.) 
Kochi corporate office: 3948-1, Nunoshida. Kochi city, Kochi prefecture
Tokyo corporate office: 1-3-28 Ariake, Koto ku, Tokyo

※1IFCEE: International Foundations Congress and Equipment Expo hosted by four research institutes of Deep Foundation Institute (DFI), The International Association of Foundation Drilling (ADSC), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE Geo-Institute) and Pile Driving Contractors Association (PDCA)