Ford invents new stamping technology

[jpd80]

Ford invents new stamping technology

Ford Motor Co. says it has used a federal grant to develop a first-of-its-kind stamping technology that will allow it to create low-volume auto parts at essentially no cost.

Dubbed Ford Freeform Fabrication Technology, the process — created at the automaker’s Research and Innovation Center — could soon allow consumers to customize bodywork on new vehicles, all while eliminating the high cost and wait that comes with engineering a stamping die.

“As we forge ahead with cutting-edge technologies in manufacturing like flexible body shops, robotics, 3D printing, virtual reality and others, we want to push the envelope with new innovations like (Ford Freeform Fabrication Technology) to make ourselves more efficient and build even better products,” said John Fleming, executive vice president, global manufacturing and labor affairs, in a statement.

Ford’s process works like this: A piece of sheet metal is clamped on its edges and formed into a three-dimensional shape by two tools that look similar to a stylus that are set up tip-to-tip on either side of the metal. The process can shape the metal so that it meets strength tolerances and surface finish requirements.

The Dearborn automaker says the new technology could deliver a steel metal auto part within three business days; with current technology, parts can take two to six months to deliver.

Though the technology will help Ford save on cost and improve flexibility of creating auto parts, it is not seen as a replacement for high-volume stamping.

High-volume stamping will still require the use of stamping dies. Creating those dies is still a long and drawn-out process.

But the new technology will help immensely when it comes to crafting prototypes and concept cars.

Ford says it can take six to eight weeks just to create a prototype die and several months and hundreds of thousands of dollars before a final die begins creating parts for a prototype.

The project is part of a three-year, $7.04 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to advance next-generation, energy-efficient manufacturing processes.

Ford spent the past four years developing the process in a laboratory; the DOE award will allow the automaker to use the process for larger applications.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2XyaTWseF

Interesting developments in speeding up prototype parts.....

[mcnamg]

Imagine the uses for this in the aftermarket. For low volume classic cars where there isn't enough demand for large orders of replacement body panels you could use this process to produce them. You wouldn't need the massive cost of creating a die you would just need an original panel or drawings to enter into the computer that controls the machine.

It would also be good for low volume models like FPV's as they could create body mods at a lower cost as dies wouldn't be required

[Cheese3]

Perfect for Australia since the falcon is low-volume . . .