First Posted: 3/25/2015
LIMA — The automotive industry is “very energetically in flux” as companies face pressure to re-engineer their products.
Change in the industry is “driven” by two regulations: mileage standards and emission standards, said Lima Mayor David Berger, after Tuesday’s Auto Task Force meeting, and both require that vehicles be “dramatically re-engineered.”
“As car companies are looking at complying in several years with these standards, they can’t get there with existing manufacuturing techniques, with existing materials and existing power trains,” Berger said.
The regulations were set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to lower greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel economy for vehicles coming out from 2017 to 2025.
The rules, established under the Clean Air Act and Corporate Average Fuel Economy, state that vehicles can emit one gram per mile of greenhouse gases.
One of the ways companies are trying to meet regulations is by taking weight out of vehicles, a concept called “lightweighting.”
Ford Motor Co.’s Lima Engine Plant is somewhat of a leader in this area, as it took 700 pounds out of its F-series truck by building an aluminum body.
“I think the new F-series is a perfect example of what Ford is doing in lightweight vehicles,” said Mike Felix, plant manager at the engine plant. “We’re not sacrificing performance.”
The company is looking at how to apply the same technique to other vehicle lines, he said.
One engineering complexity is that the vehicle needs to become more lightweight, without becoming less sturdy, strong and safe, Berger said.
Tom Tebben, Lima city councilman and retired Ford employee, said at the meeting that the 2015 F-series truck, which is aluminum and lighter, feels stronger than previous Ford models.
With re-engineering, car companies can’t sacrifice their product’s appeal to customers, which is often found in the color and look of the car.
“One of the huge barriers in existing plants are the paint shops,” Berger said. There are “different shades that emerge from a different material receiving the coatings. All pieces have to be shiny. … The finish has to be sellable, that’s the bottom line, you have to be able to sell it.”
Though there are many aspects for companies to balance, there is no single solution to the hurdles the car industry is facing.
“It’s hugely complex and there’s no silver bullet,” Berger said. “There’s no single technique that will get the industry to the end point.”
