The U.S. Military Finds New Roads: Fuel Cell Powered Pickups

The U.S. Military Finds New Roads: Fuel Cell Powered Pickups

While it seems that fuel efficiency as related to the U.S. federal government is all about light duty vehicles, that’s far from being the case.

LG Chem Plans EV Battery Plant in Poland

South Korea chemical giant LG Chem will spend 1.3 billion zloty (€302 million) to build a factory near Wroclaw, Poland, to make batteries for electric vehicles.

HyperSizer Express tightly couples with FEA, determining the best-performing concept (solid laminate, honeycomb, or foam sandwich), and the minimum number of plies and core material thickness that match the design and failure criteria for, as shown here, an automobile hood. This display shows the optimum number of plies—0 degree carbon fiber weave plies—to meet all strength requirements for multiple load cases applied to the hood.

Lightweighting Special Coverage: Software for Lightweighting Composite Parts

Atlhough this software has its genesis at NASA, a new version of HyperSizer helps automotive engineers create lightweight composite part designs.

The Robotic Composite 3D system. Printing can be done in eight axes with fiber-reinforced thermoplastic. The robot moves the print head in the orientation required by the build. This is not the typical layer-by-layer approach to part production.

Lightweighting Special Coverage: Light, Strong and Printed

Advances in additive manufacturing technology can potentially result in the proliferation of more lightweight, printed parts.

The 2016 Cadillac CT6 has received many accolades—including a technical award for the overall approach that the engineers took to reduce mass.

Lightweighting Special Coverage: Optimized Mass Reduction

The use of simulation and smart engineering can lead to better products. Here’s how.

One of the companies that Fred Thomas and his DELMIA Apriso team are working with is Faraday Future. This is a company that has no legacy systems as it is a new company. According to the company, “Faraday Future seeks to redefine the automotive experience by delivering a range of smart, electric vehicles and usage arrangements.” Because they’re a clean-sheet operation, they have the opportunity to execute their manufacturing operations without having a concern for legacy. But while they may be an Industry 4.0 company right out of the box (they’re building a plant in North Las Vegas, Nevada), there are plenty more that need to undergo a transformation from how things have been done for years to how they need to be done going forward.

Transformation to 4.0

Let’s face it: there is a whole lot of existing infrastructure in factories around the world. Going from day-to-day, getting it done to Industry 4.0 will take technology, vision and leadership.

Hard turning in place of grinding for hardened steel parts can offer great gains in throughput while maintaining required surface finish and dimensional requirements.

Improving Hard Turning

While it is pointed out that using hard turning in place of grinding for case-hardened or induction-hardened steel components such as transmission shafts and gears can reduce both machining costs and time by as much as 70 percent or more, according to the people at Sandvik Coromant Co. (sandvik.coromant.com) such gains are achievable only if that hard turning (usually performed as a finishing or semi-finishing process) is performed with optimized insert grades.

Lights, Camera, Lidar!

On Manufacturing (10/2016)

On Manufacturing (10/2016)

FCA’s Sterling Heights Investment to Include Test Track

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV plans to add a test track to its Sterling Heights, Mich., assembly plant, The Detroit News reports.