May_June_AMP_Digital

A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 9 2 3 just as the final reports were submit- ted in late fall. The task force’s conclu- sion was that Alcan’s AVT had the best potential for delivering affordable light- weight body structures while remain- ing a suitable fit within Ford’s manu- facturing footprint. It also noted how much work remained to deliver a pro- duction program. The final recom- mendation was to initiate a complete development project, including a com- prehensive manufacturing prove-out of the new technology. The immediate task was to con- vince upper management to autho- rize the project and find the millions of dollars that would be necessary. Un- like the previous demonstration proj- ect supported by Alcan, this would be a complete redesign of an existing ve- hicle, including new tooling to produce enough prototypes to evaluate every aspect of its performance. It also includ- ed building a small portion of the body shop to test the robotic adhesive appli- cation and the RSW equipment running at speed. Fortunately, the project had an enthusiastic champion in Chris Ma- gee. He soon roped in the chief engineer of small car design, Neil Ressler. As the project slowly weaved its way through the approval process, it was overtak- en by the much smaller aluminum clo- sure program (see Part V of this series), which had chosen the DN5 Sable due to the deeper waterfall of its trunk lid. The project, renamed the Aluminum Intensive Vehicle (AIV), was finally ap- proved and funded by early June 1991. It included an additional project to de- velop lightweight aluminum doors with Alcoa. The AIV was to be an aluminum replica of the 1992 DN5 Sable. July 10, 1991, was the official kick-off, with a full-day seminar presented by Alcan that provided a complete overview of the AVT technology. The scope of the project was un- precedented, and to ensure support from all parts of the company, a ma- trix organization known as the “AIV Program” was created. A steering com- mittee of 11 members provided over- sight and buy-in at the highest level of the corporation. The fact that fourmem- bers of the steering committee rep- resented manufacturing underscored the importance placed on being able to deliver the technology in production. Additionally, two members hailed from product development, two from pur- chasing, one from Alpha and one from research, as well as one each from Al- can and Alcoa. Chris Magee was named Program Champion, the titular head of the project. The program’s actual manager was Bill Stuef, a Ford veter- an with a reputation for getting things done, even if it meant asking for for- giveness rather than permission. Stuef was the lead member of the AIV Macro Team, which reported biweekly to Chris Magee. Reporting to the Macro team were 11 Micro teams representing ev- ery facet of the vehicle that would be impacted by the new technology, both from an engineering and manufactur- ing perspective. One would find body structure engineering, corrosion and fasteners engineering, CAE Analysis, vehicle systems, safety, NVH, and du- rability, along with stamping, body con- struction, paint, and final assembly for manufacturing. The AIV program was soon tucked away in its own suite of buildings, al- lowing a core group of engineers to be co-located. The first order of busi- ness was to define the car itself. Ford had no intention of changing its body architecture, so the project was now a full unibody structure with stressed skins. The next step was to sort out the alloy selection. Because recycling the stamping scrap was one of the key as- sumptions of the program, the team briefly considered a uni-alloy approach for the body structure, but the lack of understanding of natural aging and its effect on crash behavior quickly elimi- nated any 6xxx alloy solution. Surface quality concerns eliminated 5xxx alloys just as quickly. In the end, 5251-Owas replaced by 5754-O for the general body structure, with 5182 limited to door inners. Alcan’s new 6xxx alloy, 6111, would be used for the roof, hood outer, and front and rear fenders. Alcoa’s 2008 appeared on the hood inner, while RMC provided 2010 for the trunk lid. Henry “Hank” Cornille was the body engineering technical specialist in charge of redesigning the DN5 as an aluminum structure. A su- premely talented engineer, Hank could size the required sections of a body structure with sketches and quick sec- tion analysis. FEAmodels would usually confirm the design with minor adjust- ments. He was also unflappable, open minded, and forward thinking, all nec- essary qualities in his new role. He was supported by two experienced body en- gineers and two CAD designers. Laurent Chappuis with an aluminum intensive vehicle (AIV), early 1993.