January_2021_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 | J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 1 3 0 blanking, and deliveries. It was a hercu- lean effort that demonstrated the quick maturation of the customer center and Alcoa’s commitment to the project. The successful resolution helped forge enduring bonds between the two technical teams. Another outcome was that Ford had now found a physical lab test that correlated nicely with riveting performance, and it was soon inserted into the material specification. By Au- gust, the verification prototype build had been completed and the last pro- totype testing was underway. In March 2013, Novelis announced the closure of its R&D lab in Kingston and the reloca- tion of key engineers and scientists to its new global research and technology center in Kennesaw, Georgia. TOOLING TRYOUTS AND NEW LINES Dearborn Stamping Plant was now busy launching the first two of its four new press lines. The high-speed shear and blanker-1 were already run- ning production. The first sets of tools would soon start their home line trials. Plant manager Frank Piazza somehow kept everything moving forward and was able to keep an epic menagerie of research Ph.D.s, facility planners, man- ufacturing engineering specialists, sup- pliers, pipe fitters, die makers, and production workers all in sync to deliv- er the project. Friday morning briefings were now famous for their intensity and focus. Novelis Oswego ran its first coil on the new line on schedule in June 2013 and by August, they were qualifying thin gauge skin ABS with impressive elonga- tion gains compared to the existing pro- duction from Kingston. Qualification for thick gauge structural 6111 sheet began in September, and Novelis soon found they could not meet Ford’s new rivetability criterion. The crisis peaked in October, necessitating an emergen- cy meeting with Ford at Oswego, when the cause of the issue was traced to the line design. Novelis had a solution, but it could not be implemented in time for the start of production. Another issue was favoring a pro- gram delay: As the economy had recov- ered, light truck sales had steadily risen, and Ford’s projected sales volumes for P552 had increased by almost 30%. By October 2013, Alcoa was forced to ad- mit it could not support the new vol- umes from its Davenport and Danville facilities. Intense discussions were un- derway with Ford on how to solve this issue. Delaying the start of F-150 pro- duction by two months solved both suppliers’ problems. The solution to Alcoa’s volume is- sues was two-fold: First, they would accelerate the launch of the expan- sion of their North Plant at Alcoa Ten- nessee, which had been scheduled to support Ford’s Super Duty program; second, they would build a bank by run- ning their plants at full production vol- umes as P552 production ramped up. The bank would start to deplete when demand from P552 outstripped Alcoa’s capacity and would bridge the gap until Alcoa Tennessee caught up. Numerous simulations confirmed that by using a strict first-in-first-out strategy, the coils would not exceed their specified shelf lives. The winter of 2013 was the coldest in memory. The extreme low tempera- tures froze the newly installed switch gear for Dearborn Stamping Plant’s scrap handling system and a new enclosure had to be hastily ordered. The join- ing team’s investigation into riveting performance of the 6xxx alloys determined that natural aging had a negative influence, and mandated all riveting to be complete with- in six months after heat treat. A new aging management system had to be invented and rolled out to the plants and suppli- ers. Within Dearborn Stamping Plant, a new computerized material manage- ment system was implemented, capa- ble of tracking material from arrival in coil form to delivery as a finished part. For the teams working on P552, time was flying. Some events stood out—notably, the introduction of the new Ford F-150 at the North American International Auto Show on January 13, 2014 (Fig. 8). Its all-aluminum body and box stunned the industry and the press was soon abuzz with speculation on how competitors and the public would respond. For the Ford team, the real shock was that it had remained secret up to that point. Home line tryout came and went, followed by a series of pre-production builds, all taking place in the indepen- dent segments of the body shop scat- tered around Detroit. The last 2014 steel truck ran through Dearborn Truck Plant on August 23, 2014. Body shop demoli- tion started immediately, and by Sep- tember 13, the first aluminum body was passing through the new body shop, installed as a complete system for the first time. By then, the stamping plants were starting their production ramp-up, as Dearborn Truck Plant perfected its production system. The official Job 1 ceremony took place on November 11 and production began ramping up. Kansas City Truck Plant produced the steel truck until Christmas, and then finally, Dearborn Stamping Plant was an all-aluminum plant. By March, Kan- sas City Truck Plant had started pro- duction and P552 was fully launched at last. Less than 18 months later, it had exceeded the cumulative production numbers of all aluminum-intensive ve- hicles ever made. Learn what happened next in Part XII of this article series—the final install- ment—to be published in a future issue of AM&P. ~AM&P For more information: Laurent Chap- puis, president, Light Metal Consultants LLC, 8600 Church Rd., Grosse Ile, MI 48138, lbchappuis@icloud.com . Fig. 8 — 2015 Ford F-150.