September_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 | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 2 9 Ford was now down to two AIVs, but the requirement to de- velop two aluminum platforms remained: D219, a new vehicle line in the earliest stag- es of concept devel- opment and X350, an iconic luxury sedan a year ahead in its de- velopment cycle. While the D219 team focused on understanding P2000 and the up- grades required to pass frontal offset, the X350 team needed to start from scratch. The first task was to develop an engineering model to serve as the basis for engineering and manufac- turing targets. On May 4, 1998, Mark White and six Jaguar engineers came to Dearborn for a six-week stay, which turned into several months of inten- sive work between the Ford and Jaguar teams. Three body engineers worked on redesigning the vehicle, assisted by three manufacturing engineers provid- ing the feasibility assessments, one for stamping and two for body assembly. A matching Ford team of AIV veterans provided the guidance and ensured a seamless technology transfer. On May 5, X350 was officially confirmed as an aluminum derivative of the DEW98 platform, with a six-month extension granted for the additional engineer- ing development of the new aluminum platform. Purchasing started secur- ing all of the prototype tooling for the DEW98 underbody in the U.S. and the X200 upper body in the U.K. to build de- velopment mules for X350. For the body construction team, the initial question was whether a body shop could build the steel S-Type and an aluminum XJ side by side. If that proved possible, the sister body shop in Wixom, Michigan, could be similar- ly configured to support an AIV, possi- bly the next generation Lincoln Town Car. Unfortunately, body shops are not inherently flexible, relying instead on shared reference points and joint lo- cations. As the design progressed, the team soon concluded that the up-gaug- ing of the aluminum parts forced new reference points. Commonality could have been achieved if the design of the steel and aluminum bodies had been done in concert, but both the Lincoln LS and the Jaguar S-Type were nearing production and that opportunity was long gone: X350 would require its own aluminum body shop. Besides supporting the redesign of the X200 in aluminum, stamping engineering had to plan the tool development program. As an AIV, X350 could no longer take advantage of any shared underbody parts, so all of the stamped body parts now had to be tooled. The scope of the project and the expected difficulty caused by aluminum prompted the organization to request an additional 20 weeks for production tooling development. Meanwhile, work was progress- ing on D219, now scheduled to launch about 15 months after the X350. By June 1998, the planners had added a sedan to generate enough volume to fill an assembly plant. It was around that time that Ford formed a dedicat- ed manufacturing team based in Dear- born to support both projects, in order to bridge the gap from earlier develop- ment projects and embrace the reality Fig. 3 — Jaguar X350 AP prototype on road simulator test stand. Fig. 4 — Jaguar X350 AP prototype on test track.