Sponsored by Research & Development Magazine, the annual R & D 100 Competition was established in 1963 to honor the 100 most technologically significant products of the year. Previous award winners include the photo flashcube (1965), the automated teller machine (1973), the Kodak photo CD (1991), the Nicoderm anti-smoking patch (1992) and HDTV (1998).

Codaco's application for the award, submitted jointly with Battelle, stressed the ability of the CODACO bonding system to provide a versatile, technically robust and environmentally responsible solution to a previously unanswered demand from manufacturers. It is the first industrial bonding system which physically separates the process of applying adhesives to parts from the process of bonding the parts in complex assemblies or on high speed polypropylene, polyethylene or paperboard webs.

Manufacturers are now able to pre-apply tack-free adhesives to parts, freely manipulate the parts into complex assemblies, and rapidly activate the adhesive to bond the parts. Similarly, one layer of a high speed web can be preapplied with CODACO material for later bonding to other substrate layers for a strong adhesive or fusion bond.

"We are both thrilled and honored to receive this historic award", said Jonathan Gorbold, Vice President and General Manager of Codaco Inc. "It validates what we've known for some time now - that the CODACO system represents a truly unique opportunity for manufacturers to streamline and improve their bonding processes".