Elmia Subcontractor presents a unique Swedish lightweight engineering venture
Thirty-five subcontractors, the Volvo Car Group, the Scandinavian automotive supplier association FKG, the Swedish technology development centre Innovatum, and academics have jointly developed concepts and systems that can build a car which is almost 40 per cent lighter in weight. At Elmia Subcontractor the entire Sånätt project will be presented for the first time to a wide audience.
“The project proves that Sweden’s automotive industry is strong and has incredible expertise,” comments Anders Holmkvist, project manager of Sånätt.
The aim of the Sånätt project has been to bring together the strongest intellects and find new ways to develop concepts and systems in order to construct a car the size of a Volvo V60 but weighing 20 to 40 percent less. Organisers achieved that percentage goal and also see other major gains.
“We wanted to exploit all the knowledge subcontractors have,” Anders says. “Traditionally, subcontractors are brought in late in the process, when the OEM company and Tier 1 supplier have already done most of the work. We’ve now seen how well things can turn out when people work together from scratch.”
One of the subcontractors involved, the aluminium company Sapa, predicts the project will lead to big gains for itself but also for the Swedish automotive industry as a whole.
“We believe the project can advance the entire industry,” explains Mats Sixtensson, a design engineer at Sapa. “Suppliers are linked together and we learn to cooperate better.”
The Sånätt project, which ended this summer, had a budget of some 7.3 million euro, half of which was funded by a joint R&D funding programme (FFI) between the Swedish government and the Swedish vehicle industry. Anders Holmkvist says the result is a great success and may have laid the foundation for more research successes in the future.
“It’s the tough competition between our subcontractors that produces the high quality,” he says. “If we can use this, with external help, such as from the government, we can achieve a great deal. It also shows how much can be achieved in the field of lightweight engineering.”
Contact details
Contact: Karla Eklund
Project name: Elmia Subcontractor
Website: www.elmia.se/subcontractor
E-mail: karla.eklund@elmia.se
Phone: 46 36 15 22 61
Elmia AB, P.O. Box 6066, SE-550 06 Jönköping, Sweden Phone 46 36 15 20 00. Fax 46 36 16 46 92 Internet www.elmia.se. E-mail info@elmia.se
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