Sponsor: Stewart Automotive Research

• Project duration: 10/1/2004 - 9/30/2007
• Total project (est.): $2,437,640
• Requested ATP funds: $2,000,000

Building the tooling - the molds and dies - used to form the body panels of an automobile has become one of the most costly bottlenecks in producing new cars. Interior and exterior body panels are critical to the success of a car model because they define the vehicle's "style" for consumers, but making the tooling for them remains time-consuming and expensive because the molds and dies require extensive hand grinding and finishing to produce the smooth "Class-A" finish demanded by the market. Advances in accuracy and control for smaller machine tools have made it possible to mill small parts directly to final finish, but it has thus far not been possible to extend such control to much larger shapes such as body panels. The Class-A Panel large-format, high-speed finish milling machine is a collaboration led by Stewart Automotive Research with key subcontractors including Aerotech, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.); Etrema Products, Inc. (Ames, Iowa); Intelligent Automation, Inc. (Rockville, Md.); Moore Tool Company (Bridgeport, Conn.) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.) that will enable a complete automotive panel set (stamping dies and plastic bumper and interior cladding molds) to be designed, tooled and put in production in only 12 months - a third to half the time of current practice - by providing toolpath accuracy and speed sufficient to eliminate hand grinding of the tool surface. A highly damped carbon fiber structure with integrated metrology frame will provide an absolute frame of reference for cancellation of servo, thermal, and structural errors experienced in high speed machining by a small-travel, high-frequency magnetrostrictive actuation system from Etrema built into the Moore hydrostatic spindle. Aerotech will provide linear motor technology and controls, and MIT will assist in managing the error budget for the machine design and in modeling the economic implications of the technical decisions made throughout the project. The lead-time and precision advantages of the resulting tools will enable a fundamental shift in the strategy of the domestic auto industry from capital utilization efficiency to differentiation through style and design, a strategy now widely believed to be the new basis for competition in the industry, and a traditional strength of American automotive manufacturers. The ability to adjust styling details rapidly to respond to consumer trends would mean less reliance on bland, non-polarizing body styling to guarantee a wide audience, and reduced financial risk for launching a new vehicle. The project also could help revive the nation's tool and die industry, which has shrunk significantly since 2000 to the dismay of many industry observers, and help preserve or even expand jobs in the U.S. auto industry. Stewart Automotive, a small company, requires ATP support for the project because the decimation of the U.S. large tool industry has eliminated other sources of funding and left investors unwilling to back what they see as a difficult, low-growth industry.

For project information:

Simon Ogier, (713) 675-3244
sogier@stewartresearch.com

ATP Project Manager

Richard Bartholomew, 301-975-4786
richard.bartholomew@nist.gov

This is the fact sheet for this project as it was announced on September 28, 2004.
Click here for the latest version of this fact sheet.
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