Novelis hot mill fire risks $1bn hit to Ford F-150 output, exposing heavy reliance on aluminium body-in-white A fire at Novelis’ aluminium rolling and recycling plant in New York is set to disrupt Ford’s supply of aluminium for its F-150, with analysts warning the production impact could cost the carmaker as much as $1 billion. James McLoughlin Ilkhan Ozsevim
Production minimalism: How Megacasting is reshaping automotive manufacturing Single aluminium components replace hundreds of welded parts as Tesla's gigacasting revolution spreads to Volvo, Toyota and Chinese manufacturers, promising dramatic cost cuts but demanding massive capital investment. Ilkhan Ozsevim
Honda North America’s big investment in flexible manufacturing for EVs, hybrid and ICE vehicles Honda invests $1 billion in retooling its Ohio manufacturing plants to build ICE, hybrid, and EV models on same production line. New technologies being introduced include megacasting, CDC and friction stir welding. Nick Holt
Watch now: How to maximise efficiency in battery tray manufacturing and integration This webinar showcased innovative, cost-efficient quality processes to assure 100% quality in battery manufacturing. New quality solutions from Hexagon enable automakers to detect defects efficiently and ensure a perfect fit into the underbody of the car.
Watch Now: Next-Gen Gapfillers: Henkel’s Blueprint for Automotive Electronics This webinar explored Henkel’s latest innovations in thermal gap fillers, designed specifically for automotive electronics.
Korea’s LG, SK On and Samsung lead Prismatic battery revival impacting Electric Vehicles and Automotive Production The prismatic battery is making a comeback, with Korean battery giants leading the charge. Offering advantages in safety and cost, this technology could have lasting implications for the Electric Vehicle, battery, and automotive production landscape. Ilkhan Ozsevim
Nissan to transition to low-CO2 emission aluminium by 2030 Through sourcing and using low CO2 emission aluminium, Nissan aims to significantly reduce CO2 emissions. Nick Holt
How BMW is ramping up its circular production and sustainability principles as it drives towards electrification BMW’s Dr. Irene Feige, Head of Climate Strategy and Circular Economy says that circular economy is becoming central to BMW’s automotive production landscape, part of its wider push for sustainable production and supply chains. Ilkhan Ozsevim
Changing dynamics– developing the next generation of vehicle architectures Building electric vehicles has demanded big changes in OEM production operations and increased support from tier suppliers. Gestamp’s director of R&D North America, Paul Belanger, shares some insights into the company’s development and how it’s managing the engineering challenges around EVs Nick Holt
DESIGN4PRODUCTION brings together leaders in automotive production, design, and engineering Explore the future of automotive design and manufacturing at Design4Production in Munich on 15 May and join leading designers, engineers and production leaders on Automotive design and manufacturing experts as they discuss how to accelerate innovation, efficiency and sustainability. AMS
The co-evolution of EVs, architectures and production processes Electric vehicles and batteries are influencing automotive manufacturing decisions, driving changes in vehicle architectures, production processes and material choices. Gestamp and ArcelorMittal discuss their strategies Ilkhan Ozsevim
Watch Now: Shaping the future: How electric vehicles are driving manufacturing decisions Dive into the intricacies of EV platform design with industry experts from Gestamp and ArcelorMittal. Looking at how current trends are influencing manufacturing processes and the balance between innovation, sustainability, and efficiency.
BMW begins production at German cell manufacturing competence centre BMW has started production of cylindrical battery cells at its €170m Cell Manufacturing Competence Centre (CMCC) near Munich in Parsdorf, Germany. Megan Kelly
How digitalisation is ramping up battery cell production for EVs Digitalisation is helping to scale up battery cell production in North America through improving standardisation and traceability and ensuring quality of materials. Megan Kelly
Battery production and design need to be optimised together, says Volvo Trucks and ABB Václav Švub from ABB Robotics and Wenting Hu from Volvo Trucks pointed to the benefits of aligning battery engineering and production processes in an exclusive AMS livestream, including opportunities in automation, new materials and production processes. Ilkhan Ozsevim
The evolution of EV battery enclosures: balancing optimisation, safety and cost-effectiveness They protect the most valuable part of an EV—but what are battery enclosures currently made of? What could they be made of? And what are their key design considerations? Martin Kahl
Forming innovations – press shops get smarter Digital tools are playing a major part in innovating every area of production. The press shop is no exception, with data gathering and AI increasing the visibility and efficiency of the forming process Mike Farish
Shaping the future – Developing electric vehicle architectures In our AMS Evolution Livestream experts from ArcelorMittal and Gestamp tackle EV production challenges and explain how digital tools, new technologies, processes and materials innovations could help solve some key issues Michael Nash
Watch: Structural change – Developing vehicle architectures optimised for EV manufacturing Transitioning to build electric vehicles in high volumes is an engineering challenge for OEMs and suppliers, but one that also presents opportunities in manufacturing processes and efficiencies.
Form and function: Developing production processes and structures for electric vehicle architectures As much as we read about battery cell development and production, in parallel the new electric vehicle architectures are also continuing to evolve as vehicle makers strive to find the optimum balance between platform flexibility to meet changing market demands for new models, while also being viable for high-volume production. To get some insights in to this ongoing process AMS spoke with Paul Belanger, Gestamp’s R&D Director for North America Nick Holt Christopher Ludwig
BMW Group to source aluminium with reduced CO2 emissions from 2024 The company is planning to source aluminium with significantly reduced CO2 emissions from Rio Tinto’s hydro-powered operations in Canada, starting next year. Compared to conventionally manufactured aluminium, this approach can save around 70% of CO2 emissions Rebecca Morley
Mercedes-Benz and Hydro partner to develop a sustainable aluminium supply chain Mercedes-Benz to collaborate with Norwegian aluminium producer Hydro to reduce the CO2 footprint of aluminium in the automotive supply chain AMS
Renault advances circular economy reuse, remake, recycle business The pioneering initiative will reduce the resource, energy and emissions intensity of a car’s lifecycle since some components can have a second life as used, reconditioned parts. Peter Murphy
Watch: Next-gen car body building Innovations in vehicle body and module architectures are enabling more sustainable production. Experts from manufacturers including REE, and technology specialist Magswitch discuss opportunities in this AMS Livestream first broadcast on Wednesday November 16 AMS
Europe’s carmakers dim lights, turn back to coal, oil, on approach to bleak winter Automakers crimp consumption and reluctantly turn to coal and oil but options may be more limited for component and material suppliers upstream. Peter Murphy
Watch: Are all OEMs start-up manufacturers now? Hear how start-ups are changing car production and established OEMs are reinventing themselves in manufacturing and engineering, featuring start-up EV truckmaker Volta’s co-founder and chief manufacturing officer Kjell Walöen, and automotive steel solutions director Jesse Paegle from ArcelorMittal. AMS
Renault and China’s Minth Group form JV to produce EV battery casings Automakers are seeking to simultaneously make lighter battery casings that also offer rigidity and the thermal properties to support the battery’s performance. Peter Murphy
After tailpipes, auto industry ponders CO2 purge from its materials Three automotive industry executives from Polestar, Volvo Cars and SSAB discuss approaches to removing carbon from carmaking with neither a ready recipe nor time for trial and error. Peter Murphy
BMW Landshut is now using new multi-plate die casting technology The light metal foundry at the BMW components plant in Landshut is using multi-plate die casting technology, which offers function-optimised component design and design of the required sprue positions and flow paths AMS
Megacasting: a chance to rethink body manufacturing The aluminium die-casting process could revolutionise body construction. Professor Wolfram Volk, the department head for forming technology and casting at the Technical University of Munich, explains the advantages and disadvantages of so-called ‘mega’- or ‘gigacasting’. Götz Fuchslocher
The die is cast for Volvo’s future EV production One of the key pillars of Volvo’s investment in electric vehicles will be the application of aluminium megacasting to produce large structural parts. Mikael Fermér, solution architect for vehicle platforms at Volvo Cars, explains the significance of this change for EV production. Nick Holt Christopher Ludwig
Aluminium applications Electric vehicles battery enclosures are increasing overall vehicle weight, with lightweight materials for structural components, such as castings, can offset the rise. Rio Tinto’s Jerome Fourmann tells Nick Holt about new opportunities and production innovations Nick Holt
Watch: Vehicle lightweighting rises to the top of the agenda for designers and engineers This livestream investigates how designers and engineers at Ford, Gestamp and key suppliers are using innovative materials and creating lightweight architectures, including for models like the Ford F-150 Lightning and Maverick compact truck. AMS
Power is nothing without control Chassis components keep the wheels from falling off the EV revolution. Illya Verpraet found out how Gestamp is managing the change with material and quality control innovation Illya Verpraet
Watch: Strategies for Greener Production (EP.1) This AMS Livestream Hour episode discusses how automotive manufacturers are making their plants and value chains more sustainable through new processes and technology, with special guests including Scania and ArcelorMittal. Watch the full episode and download slides. AMS
Audi introduces closed-loop systems for aluminium, wastewater and plastic Audi has detailed how it is introducing closed-loop systems to its plants as part of its goal to make all its five plants carbon-neutral by 2025. This includes aluminium, wastewater and a pilot project for chemical recycling of plastics. Illya Verpraet
Al around the weld Joining aluminium parts gives the bodyshop a number of challenges not encountered when welding steel. But a variety of weld techniques are helping OEMs to adapt and extend use of the lighter metal James Bakewell
Drawing attention: aluminium hot form quench Better known as a niche process for parts with deep-drawn and complex geometries in high-strength aluminium, hot form quench is now being adapted for high volume production. James Bakewell
Collective thinking Michael Nash and Closer collaboration between product development and production teams could lead to significant improvements in vehicle manufacturing processes. Ford Otosan holds a unique position. Michael Nash reports
Forging a future in Factory 56 New car manufacturing facilities will need to be highly flexible as the trends of vehicle electrification and autonomous driving continue to evolve. Mercedes-Benz futuristic ‘Factory 56’ paves a new path. By Christopher Ludwig and Michael Nash Michael Nash Christopher Ludwig
The case for carbon fibre The launch of the i3 has changed the conversation about the future application of carbon fibre in vehicle structures James Bakewell
