Contact: Michael Baum, michael.baum@nist.gov
ATP FOCUSED PROGRAM:
Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Technology
FY 1995 NIST Funding: $40 million
Estimated Total FY 1995-2000 NIST Funding: $185 million
Potential for U.S. Economic Benefit.
Changeovers to new car, van, or truck models are engineering and
manufacturing marathons, taking U.S. auto makers and their suppliers
an average of 42 to 48 months to cross the finish line. With more
agile equipment and processes that sharply reduce the time and cost
of converting factories to new models, the nation's automotive
industry can significantly reduce the span from initial design to
consumer-ready vehicle and sprint ahead of the competition.
The ATP focused program on motor vehicle manufacturing technology
will foster innovations in manufacturing practices that could slash
time- to-market to 24 months, markedly better than even the best
times logged to date by foreign or domestic car makers. Sought-after
advances will lead to more versatile equipment, better control and
integration of processes, and greater operational flexibility at all
levels, from suppliers of parts, dies, and machine tools to assembly
plants. With the reusable, modular equipment and processes
envisioned by the program, the cost of retooling car-manufacturing
facilities -- now ranging between $1.2 billion and $2.9 billion,
depending on the extent of the changeover -- could be reduced by as
much as tenfold. The savings would reduce the size of break-even
production volumes needed to recover investment costs, making it
profitable for U.S. automobile companies to compete in small- volume
markets at mass-production prices.
The automotive sector, which accounts for about 4 percent of the
U.S. gross domestic product and employs more than 2 million people,
will be the initial beneficiary of the anticipated technologies.
Within the sector, parts and equipment suppliers, which will be
directly involved in program efforts, will benefit most directly
from the improved performance capabilities enabled by the
technologies. Outside the sector, a variety of other manufacturing
industries, from metal furniture to precision instruments, will be
able to exploit targeted improvements in machining, grinding, and
other widely used processes.
Technology Challenge and Industry Commitment.
Designed on the basis of industry input, including 17 white papers
submitted by a total of more than 150 firms, the new program shoots
for technology advances that can strengthen manufacturing
capabilities along the entire automotive production chain. Because
of their growing importance in vehicle design and manufacturing,
suppliers are the new program's chief focus. Today, these firms
account for about half of the value added in light vehicles. That
proportion is expected to grow as automobile manufacturers assign an
increasing share of engineering and development work to suppliers
and look outside for components that they once made themselves.
Numbering about 3,500 companies, U.S. automotive suppliers tend to
be small and medium-sized firms. Most spend little or nothing on
process-oriented research, leaving them ill-prepared to anticipate
and respond to major shifts in manufacturing technology and
automobile concepts. An example of such a turning point is an
end-of-the-decade transition to lightweight aluminum components for
most body and powertrain parts now made with cast iron. If domestic
suppliers are slow to respond to this transition, U.S. auto makers
will be forced to look abroad to meet their needs for machine tools
and parts.
The new focused program will concentrate on four major technical
areas that underpin significant improvements in capabilities and
performance:
> Material forming processes: Develop processes that substantially
improve the quality of stamped sheet metal parts; improve
stamping precision to achieve sub-millimeter dimensional
tolerances; and reduce by 30 percent the time required to design,
test, and produce sheet metal dies. Another thrust focuses on
developing and scaling up manufacturing systems that enable a
range of cost-effective applications of advanced materials in
light vehicles.
> Material removal processes: Increase the capabilities and speed
of machining and grinding processes, enable greater flexibility
so that machining stations can be reconfigured to meet new-model
requirements, and accelerate design and fabrication of tooling --
the most costly and time-consuming phase of changeovers.
> Assembly processes: Develop economical, modular systems for body
and powertrain assembly that can be implemented (or reconfigured)
within 4 to 6 months, as compared with today's average of 24 to
36 months, and improve technologies for controlling paint and
coating processes.
> Systems integration: Advance technologies for intelligent, or
predictive, monitoring and control of processes, and accelerate
progress in efforts to achieve plug-and-play compatibility among
equipment, processes, and information management systems, an
emphasis that complements other manufacturing R&D efforts.
Significance of ATP Funds.
In focusing on process-related obstacles confronting broad segments
of the automobile industry but especially suppliers of tooling, the
new ATP program addresses important challenges that might otherwise
go unaddressed. Domestic auto manufacturers devote the bulk of their
R&D to product research. The fraction allocated to process-oriented
R&D tends to focus on shorter term, incremental improvements, in
contrast with the major gains in performance and capabilities that
the ATP focused program will foster. Moreover, individual car
companies will not independently fund work likely to yield
non-appropriable, or widely shared, benefits that competitors can
profit from without having to make that same R&D investment. Beyond
the major technological advances that it will spur, the new program
is expected to foster a more cooperative and more constructive
relationship between auto manufacturers and their suppliers,
resulting in additional competitive advantages.
At the federal level, a recent inventory of manufacturing-related
programs, conducted for the Partnership for a New Generation of
Vehicles (PNGV), revealed only a small collection of activities
devoted to factory-floor technologies, despite their well-recognized
importance to accomplishing PNGV goals.
Without the collaborative efforts that the ATP aims to marshal, U.S.
auto makers and their suppliers would not mount and sustain the
range of activities needed to achieve the major advances in
technology, manufacturing practices, and industry performance that
are the objectives of the new program.
For information about eligibility, how to apply, and cost-sharing
requirements, contact the Advanced Technology Program:
(800)-ATP-FUND [(800)-287-3863]
email: atp@micf.nist.gov
fax: (301) 926-9524
A430 Administration Building
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001
For technical information, contact:
Jack Boudreaux, Program Manager
(301) 975-3560
email: jackb.enh.nist.gov
fax: (301) 926-9524
December 1994