Automotive sector

An important appHcation of MMCs in the automotive area is in diesel piston crowns (53). This appHcation involves incorporation of short fibers of alumina or alumina—siHca in the crown of the piston. The conventional diesel engine piston has an Al—Si casting alloy with a crown made of a nickel cast iron. The replacement of the nickel cast iron by aluminum matrix composite results in a lighter, more abrasion resistant, and cheaper product. Another appHcation in the automotive sector involves the use of carbon fiber and alumina particles in an aluminum matrix for use as cylinder liners in the Prelude model of Honda Motor Co. 

The automotive sector s quality assurance standard QS 9000 (1998) suggests a concurrent high level model, as opposed to the sequential model from BS 7000 (1997). This is shown in Figure 5.7. The automotive industry in particular has embraced the use of concurrent engineering models for product development, and this is reflected in the standards which facilitate their quality assurance programmes. A concurrent industrial model from the automotive sector will be discussed later. 

In the automotive sector PBT compounds are widely used for small interior mouldings such as ashtrays, foot pedals, door handles and safety belt... 

Although the UK, and in particular the UK automotive industry, had been at the forefront of the development of non-military quality system standards, harmonization within the automotive sector beyond BS 5750 was believed too difficult to achieve. Using BS 5750 as a baseline only, the UK motor manufacturers continued to develop their own supplementary standards, many of which are still in use today. BS 5750, and its successor ISO 9000, was enforced by the UK automotive industry and no further harmonization took place. 

The requirements of the automotive industry are more demanding than some other industries. Automotive products have to be safe, reliable, and maintainable, protect the occupants, and have minimal impact on the environment in their manufacture, use, and disposal. The automotive sector is a very competitive market and as a consequence costs have to be optimized. There is little margin for excessive variation, as variation causes waste and waste costs money and time. Therefore several methods have evolved to reduce variation. Among them are SPC, FMEA, MSA, and many other techniques The automotive industry believes that the more their suppliers adopt such variation reduction techniques the more likely it will be that the resultant product will be brought to the market more quickly and its production process be more efficient. 

Have performed at least eight first or second party audits in the automotive sector in the last three years at a minimum of 24 audit days and led at least two of these audits... 

ISO/TS 16949 embodies section 4 of ISO 9001 in its entirety within boxed text, with the additional requirements that apply to the automotive sector outside the boxes. As the original ISO 9001 text has not been changed except as stated in Part 1 Chapter 3, there are several instances where an additional requirement amplifies, extends, or modifies the original ISO 9001 requirement. In general the additional requirements have been addressed in this book under separate headings so that the reader has an explanation of the ISO 9001 requirement and, in a subsequent paragraph, an explanation of the additional requirement. 

The supplier does not need to own research and development facilities and may subcontract conceptual or complex design work to design studios. Clearly customers in the automotive sector are seeking new solutions to engineering problems and in order to capture the competitive edge, innovation is paramount. 

Managing the life cycle of chemicals for a customer, instead of just supplying their needs, is proving to be a very successful business model. There are major cost savings to be made by the user as it is estimated that for every 1 spent on chemicals, between 1 and 10 are spent on managing the acquisition, inventory and disposal. A specialist company is in a much better position to carry out these tasks cost-effectively than the end-user. This approach is widely used in the automotive sector where a surprising number of chemicals are used. About three-quarters of the main car and truck manufacturers use chemical management services. 

At present, the automotive sector is the largest end-user. The next largest end-user is the beverage can stock. Automotive use of aluminum is expected to sky-rocket as the sector increases its use of aluminum to increase fuel efficiency. 

The main use of epichlorohydrin is in the automotive sector for various seals and hoses, gaskets, firings and diaphragms. 

In addition to developing products for the domestic appliance market, Heraeus Sensor-Nite is also active in the automotive sector, and in the fields of calorimetry, electronics and medicine. The goal that Sensor-Nite has set itself for both its present and future activities is to increase process safety whilst reducing depletion of resources. 

Azomethine metal complex pigments replace the metal with tin stabilizers, resulting in a change in shade. In the case of manganese-laked pigments trouble can also be expected in the presence of epoxy compounds. Pigment preparations based on epoxidized soya bean oil are normally used instead of diisodecyl phthalate pastes in the automotive sector e.g. for coloring PVC roofs etc. 

Figure 16.8. Carbon emission reduction by using hydrogen from surplus wind electricity in the automotive sector.

Figure 16.9. Carbon emission reduction per kWh surplus wind electricity used in the stationary and automotive sectors.

The most important shift is from the historical automotive sector to the new hydrogen-vehicle technology sectors. This conglomerate consists mainly of fabricated metals, the electrical and the machinery plastic sector and the chemical sector. 

The conclusions above are all based on the assumption that no shifts in export-import relations occur (e.g., same market share of fuel-cell vehicles for European car manufactures as today for conventional vehicles). However, the mid-term employment effects in automotive sectors could be drastic if the assumption of similar competitiveness is rejected for hydrogen technologies. It could also be assumed that in such a case relevant negative consequences for GDP would occur. However, with great efforts in the field of hydrogen, exports might be possible with additional positive effects for employment and growth. 

Polymer recycling presents technical and economic difficulties and is less advanced, industrially, than that of metals. In the automotive sector, for example, the rate of metal recycling is higher than 95%. For polymers, recycling is only minor with isolated industrial achievements such as battery boxes. 

TPEE or COPE applications are in the automotive sector for blow-moulded boots and bellows, wires and cables, industrial hoses needing a higher rigidity, good heat resistance, good fatigue endurance and tear strength. 

MPR competes with crosslinked nitrile rubber for demanding applications (in the automotive sector, for example) needing oil and grease resistance, noise dampening, stress relaxation similar to vulcanized rubber, good bonding to PVC, PC, ABS. 

TPE/PVC targets general-purpose applications mainly in the automotive sector but also in construction, industrial, consumer goods, packaging, electrical electronics applications for various moulded and extruded technical goods, soft-touch overmoulding, grips. .. 

Another important parameter that has to be taken into account when choosing the appropriate diffusion layer is the overall cost of the material. In the last few years, a number of cost analysis studies have been performed in order to determine fuel cell system costs now and in the future, depending on the power output, size of the system, and number of xmits. Carlson et al. [1] reported that in 2005 the manufacturing costs of diffusion layers (for both anode and cathode sides) corresponded to 5% of the total cost for an 80 kW direct hydrogen fuel cell stack (assuming 500,000 units) used in the automotive sector. The total value for the DLs was US 18.40 m-, which included two carbon cloths (E-TEK GDL LT 1200-W) with 27 wt% P ILE, an MPL with PTFE, and Cabot carbon black. Capital, manufacturing, tooling, and labor costs were included in the total. 

Harden s (27) market survey of the growth of polyolefin foams production and sales shows that 114 x 10 kg of PE was used to make PE foam in 2001. The growth rate for the next 6 years was predicted as 5-6% per year, due to recovery in the US economy and to penetration of the automotive sector. In North America, 50% of the demand was for uncrosslinked foam, 24% for crosslinked PE foams, 15% for EPP, 6% for PP foams, 3% for EVA foams and 2% for polyethylene bead (EPE) foam. As protective packaging is the largest PE foam use sector, PE foam competes with a number of other packaging materials. Substitution of bead foam products (EPP, EPE, ARCEL copolymer) by extruded non-crosslinked PE foams, produced by the metallocene process was expected on the grounds of reduced costs. Compared with EPS foams the polyolefin foams have a lower yield stress for a given density. Compared with PU foams, the upper use temperature of polyolefin foams tends to be lower. Eor both these reasons, these foams are likely to coexist. 

In the transportation area, the Low Carbon Vehicle (LCV) Partnership has been established to promote the shift to low carbon vehicles and fuels in the UK. Hybrid vehicles feature highly in the Partnership s strategy and the linkto fuel cell vehicles is clear. Fuel Cells UK will, as a matter of priority, establish a dialogue with the LCV Partnership and, through this, the UK-based automotive sector (including bus, van and carmakers, key component suppliers and designers/developers), the fuel cell sector, and international OEMs to determine initiatives for deploying fuel cell vehicles in the UK. 

As the problem of management of solvent waste is a common problem within the automotive sector in Egypt, this case might be very interesting to other automotive companies to join a regional project on solvent management. 

Well known examples in other, even mature, industries such as Procter Gamble in packaged consumer goods, Dell in consumer electronics, Wal-Mart in retailing, and Toyota in the automotive sector prove that outstanding performance is achievable and can contribute to the company s overall success through tailored service levels, fast and reliable deliveries, and lean and cost-effective operations, even in a complex environment. Though not directly comparable, these industries have developed solutions that, appropriately selected and tailored, can be of tremendous value and serve as a reference for all branches of the chemical industry. 

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