Automotive Design Meme (What's OLD is NEW Again @The Henry Ford!)

Ford works on way to speed up prototypes

By Alisa Priddle Detroit Free Press Business Writer

   Ford engineers are using part of a $7-million government grant to further develop a new way to make prototype parts in the constant pursuit to develop vehicles faster and more cost-efficiently.

   Developing new vehicles takes years and millions of dollars, making it hard to respond quickly to changing consumer tastes.

   The industry has worked to cut the five-year vehicle development time in half by doing more work in the digital world but there is still a need for clay models and prototype parts and vehicles before an automaker greenlights production of a new car or truck.

   Car makers often show a prototype or concept car at auto shows to hint at the design direction of a future model. Concepts require prototype parts, and Ford engineers are developing a patented technology to rapidly form sheet metal parts for these low-volume applications.

   It is part of a three-year U.S. Department of Energy grant awarded in March and earmarked for improving manufacturing. Helping Ford is Boeing — where CEO Alan Mulally worked before joining Ford — and a number of universities.

   The name of the patented manufacturing technology is Ford Freeform Fabrication Technology or F3T, which Ford has been working on for four years. A pair of tools takes the dimensions of the desired part and makes a 3D shape out of a piece of sheet metal. It could also make it easier to develop custom body panels for limited editions of vehicles.

   The new technology can produce parts within three days and avoid the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to make dies and stamp prototype parts, a process that can take up to six months. Dies and traditional stamping make sense for high-volume parts but are not practical for a small batch of test parts.

   “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 F3T to make ourselves more efficient and build even better products,” said John Fleming, Ford’s head of global manufacturing, in a news release.

   Ford wants to take F3T from the lab to the plant floor. The technology could also be used by other industries including aerospace, transportation, defense and appliance makers.