The automobile of tomorrow: Lightweight, safe, eco-friendly and produced in an economic way

The automotive industry faces many challenges: Stricter CO2 limits in the EU as from 2020 and promising hybrid or e-mobility concepts are just two examples that will shake up the production of automobiles. In the increasingly competitive international market, the focus will not only be on technological innovations. Economic efficiency will also continue to gain in importance.

Efficient lightweight construction is the key to success

Increasingly thinner sheets, profile constructions and new materials place high demands on joining processes in production. Joining processes that have been optimized for decades must be modified or replaced completely.

In such a situation it is best to have a competent partner who has already helped many well-known suppliers and manufacturers in the industry to master new joining challenges. In cooperation with our research partner ISF, we always follow the pulse of cutting-edge research.

To master your challenges in lightweight construction, we rely on our know-how in joining dissimilar material joints between metal-metal or metal-plastic, adhesive bonding and hybrid joining, for example, or in special processes such as one-sided spot welding for engineering designs making intensive use of profiles.

Rethinking the car bodywork

Electric drives are entirely new challenges for joining processes in production. For example, large and usually heavy batteries have to be integrated into electrically driven vehicles - but the classic powertrain is no longer required.

This not only results in new tasks for design and joining technology. Instead, it offers the historic opportunity to rethink the car body from scratch. From the very beginning, our know-how will help you to take advantage of all the opportunities offered by the most modern and promising joining processes in this radical process.

We ensure that the power reaches the motor

When the power required for propulsion is electrically transported through the vehicle, power lines play a major role in the automobile. Significantly larger cable cross-sections make cabling a relevant factor in lightweight construction, which presents new tasks for the joining technology.

An example of this is the joining of stranded wire cables and flat conductors made of copper and aluminum. In this area, we offer ultrasonic welding, for instance, which is a cost-effective and economical joining process for your production.

Passenger safety

Passenger safety of modern automobiles has already saved many lives. And because there is no "good enough" regarding this problem, the bar is raised a little higher with each new model.

Two aspects are of importance here: controlled deformability of the crumple zone and stability of the safety cell. The uniform and safe transmission of the forces occurring at the joints during a crash is an important factor for both aspects.

In this important field, we work with you to develop solutions that lead to improved safety in automobiles. For example, through the combination of spot welding and adhesive bonding in hybrid joining or the increased use of load- or demand-optimized profiles, which is, with the application of one-sided spot welding, much easier than before.

Economic development and production

The general conditions for economic production are defined in the development and construction stages already. If wrong decisions are made, future production costs may increase significantly.

That is why we support you already during the development phase of new models and assemblies. Not because we think that we are better in car manufacturing. But because we have the profound experience that is necessary to assess the joining process already during the design phase. And since experiental values alone are not sufficient in face of your high development and investment costs, we verify them when manufacturing prototypes in the laboratory under production-related conditions.

We are your contact partners until production runs smoothly

We see ourselves as your joining technology partner with profound industry know-how in the automotive and supplier industry. We only consider our task completed when the joining processes in your production run smoothly. We accompany you, therefore, from the development of joining processes, their optimisation right to their implementation.