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The Society of Plastics Engineers’ annual Automotive Innovation Awards is the oldest and largest competition of its kind in the world.
SPE recently announced the winners of its 41st-annual competition, where dozens of engineering teams from auto makers, suppliers and polymer producers competed to claim their application as the year’s most innovative.
This year’s list of winners shows that even after more than 40 years, there is no lack of new ideas for solving problems, cutting costs and reducing weight with polymers.
Grand Award: Ford MuCell instrument panel. Both the category winner for Process/Assembly/Enabling Technologies and the Grand Award winner, the IP on the ’12 Ford Escape and Kuga cross/utility vehicles is the largest automotive part molded using the patented MuCell injection-molding process and the first IP formed with the process.
Creating the part in microcellular foam rather than in solid plastic reduced weight by more than 1 lb. (0.45 kg). Mechanical properties also were improved while molding cycle time was reduced 15% and clamp tonnage was cut 45%, saving an estimated $3 per vehicle compared with conventional materials and processes. Faurecia supplies the part using Stamax long-glass, 30% talc-filled polypropylene supplied by SABIC Innovative Plastics & Flint Hills Resources/Lamko.
Body Exterior: Ram pickup storage box. Chrysler worked with suppliers to develop a new design for a storage box on the ’12 Ram fullsize pickup that eliminated the need to upgrade to heavier and more costly material, avoiding a 9% weight increase and 20% cost premium.
Twin-sheet thermoforming replaces blow molding to create the structure and ribbing of the storage box and lid. The result is a more uniform and dimensionally accurate part whose length was increased, requiring a stronger design and construction.
Suppliers include Penda (lid), Evco Plastics (bin) and River Bend Industries (end caps); Asahi Kasei Plastics North America (material); Cavalier Tool & Mfg. (injection-molded bin); and Tooling Technology (thermoformed lid).
Body Interior: Ford overmold-cushion suspension. Used in the ’12 Ford Escape and Kuga CUVs seats, the single-piece design provides wire harness routing and retention, seat-cushion and back-trim retention and climate-control system retention functions that previously required six parts.
