Automotive industry, operating

Since 1994, the automotive industry in the USA and Europe has been operating quality system certification schemes that extended the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 10011, and EN 45012. One of these schemes was addressed by my QS-9000 Quality S /stems Handbook, published in 1996. In the same year the automakers of the USA and Europe formed the International Automotive Task Force (lATF) which, in cooperation with the technical committee of the International Organization of Standardization (TO 176), produced ISO/TS 16949. Use of and registration to this new standard is currently voluntary. It is intended that following the first revision to incorporate ISO 9000 2000, the ISO/TS 16949 certification scheme will be mandated by all major vehicle manufacturers on their Tier 1 suppliers. As a result, the standard will be cascaded along the supply chain, ultimately reaching all suppliers to the global automotive industry. 

Gas oil, which is heavier than kerosene, is the raw material of choice in cracking and other refinery operations. Cracking of gas oil produces a variety of fuels for automotive, industrial, and domestic (furnace) use. 

An oil burner or gas condensing boiler which does not operate at its optimum setting will not only decrease in efficiency, but the concentration of CO, HC and the content of soot in the exhaust gas will also increase. A measure for the quality of combustion is the well-known (in the automotive industry) lambda- (2-) value (see also chapter 53.2.4). 

The automotive industry favours sets of parts assembled by the plastic furnisher and including non-plastic elements such as metal components, electronics. .. This simplifies purchasing and on-line operations. For example, a seat module includes the frame, cushioning, slide system, position control device. .. 

Nylon-4,6 was developed by DSM Engineering Plastics in 1990 and sold under the trade name Stanyl giving a nylon that has a higher heat and chemical resistance for the automotive industry and in electrical applications. It has a of 295°C and can be made more crystalline than nylon-6,6. A number of other nylons, such as the aromatic nylons and aramids, are strong and can operate at high temperatures, and they have good flame-resistant properties. 

Recent emission control system development in the automotive industry has been directed mainly towards the use of three-way or dual bed catalytic converters, This type of converter system not only oxidizes the hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) in the exhaust gas but will also reduce the nitrous oxides (NO ). An integral part of this type of system is the exhaust oxygen sensor which is used to provide feedback for closed loop control of the air-fuel ratio. This is necessary since this type of catalytic converter system operates efficiently only when the composition of the exhaust gas is very near the stoichiometric point. 

The build-operate-transfer model is borrowed from the automotive industry, where parts suppliers install their plants as satellites on the premises of the final assembler of the car. The main advantages are a zero distance supply chain and shared infrastructure. 

Chemical modulation of the surface conductivity is the principle of operation of some of the most commercially successful chemical sensors, the high temperature semiconducting oxide sensors. They are known by their brand name Figaro sensors. They are discussed in detail in Section 8.2.2.1. The reason for their commercial success lies in the fact that their performance and cost match exactly the specific practical needs of many applications, particularly those of the automotive industry. They have been described in great detail, from the point of view of both the underlying physics and chemistry (Morrison, 1994 Logothetis, 1987). 

BASF is a chemical manufacturing company that operates production facilities in 38 countries, owns 159 subsidiaries and serves customers in more than 170 countries. Around 22% of BASF sales are made to North American industries. The firm operates in five business segments chemicals plastics performance products agricultural products and nutrition and oil and gas. The chemicals segment manufactures over 1,500 inorganic, petrochemical and intermediate chemicals for the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries. The plastics segment primarily manufactures polystyrene, styrenics and... 

Furthermore, the chemical industry stands apart from other commodity industries in that a wide gap separates the top and bottom performers. In November 2004, for example, the top quartile of chemical companies had a market-to-book ratio 3.1 times the bottom quartile s - a far wider spread than that of other asset-heavy industries, such as automotive (1.9), pulp and paper (1.8), and steel (1.6). Companies in those industries operate in more transparent and global commodity markets with fewer strategic options at the corporate level. By contrast, the far more complex chemical markets are fragmented into thousands of submarkets... 

In the automotive industry and other metal working industries, coarse scrap metal particulates are compressed and recycled to melting operations... 

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