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