Tooling for global platforms

With each vehicle’s next release, car buyers expect improved fuel economy and better performance. In response, auto engineers work to develop solutions, such as lightweighting, using aluminum and composites, and alternatives to internal combustion engines. This push for innovation – by not just the market but by ever-increasing government pressure – requires the industry to implement sweeping cost cuts. Consolidating platforms is one way to do so.

General Motors recently announced that it is on schedule to reduce its number of platforms from 30 in 2010 to 17 in 2018. Volkswagen’s approach, the MQB flexible vehicle architecture, is designed to underpin 40 to 60 models. Besides cost, platform consolidation slashes production time and adds higher flexibility in diversifying a product line.

Decreasing the number of platforms, while increasing the variety of vehicles that each one can build, affects almost every link in the supply chain.

Tooling and metalworking manufacturers are at the front line of this change. With each new technology, tooling partners must provide customized machining solutions and materials. To support the consolidated platform production system, suppliers must increase global responsiveness in both capacity and speed while handling greater demand for quality control.
 

Capacity for global response

Component suppliers require tools tailored to their specifications as automakers continue to demand individualized products using global platform. As the consolidated system reduces the diversity of necessary components, tooling suppliers will have to provide higher volumes of products with quick turnaround times.

To compete, suppliers will partner with international metalworking companies, allowing OEMs to be serviced onsite and order locally, without the hassle of customs or delivery delays.
 

The faster the better

According to Clearwater’s 2013 Global Automotive Report, emerging markets are boosting auto production demand. China’s annual car sales are expected to rise from 19 million in 2012 to 31 million by 2020. More than ever, efficiency of the delivery-to-assembly line process will be vital to workflow. As automakers use fewer platforms for speedier production of more cars, the metal cutting industry will have to work to keep pace with increased demand for tooling.

As use of modular platforms increases, the concern for quality grows exponentially. In the old one-car-per-platform environment, quality issues and recalls affected only the model in question. Problems are amplified when they affect the variety of vehicles sharing one platform. The standard for parts testing will likely become increasingly rigorous.

Adopting the ISO 13399 standard for describing measurements and dimensions of cutting tools could help the metalworking industry increase its ability to provide the most precise products. Standardized tooling in catalogs and software can significantly reduce the margin of error during a component’s design phase.

Sharing engineering across makes and models makes sense – it’s an evolutionary step toward balancing competition and collaboration to harness the best technologies. Automobile industry suppliers, including tooling suppliers, must keep pace with the resulting changes and position themselves to provide a high volume of quick and accurate service across the globe.

Sandvik Coromant Co.
www.sandvik.coromant.com
IMTS 2014 booth #W-1500

About the author: Eduardo Martin is president, market area Americas, of Sandvik Coromant Co. and can be reached at us.coromant@sandvik.com.