VDMA: Working Group Hybrid Lightweight Technologies Formed 

FRANKFURT —  January 22, 2016 — With the formation of the Working Group Hybrid Lightweight Technologies the VDMA is engaging with a promising field of technology. Multi-material design sees materials increasingly being combined in lightweight applications. The 175 VDMA member firms in the Composite Technology Forum will therefore in future also concern themselves with composite-metal bonding. With that in view, the forum is being replaced by the Working Group.More than 115 interested parties were present for the Working Group’s inaugural event. For the time being, the founding board will have seven members. They elected one of their number, Peter Egger of Engel Austria GmbH, as chairman.

The aim of the Working Group is to match the VDMA’s existing machinery manufacturing skills in lightweight construction, which are not confined to any particular material, with the needs of customer industries. In future, user and supplier industries and research institutes active in the field will therefore also take part in this important exchange.

Diversity of materials determines areas of activity

Motivated by the need to save energy and resources, the automotive industry, alongside aerospace, transport and the wind industry, is now the force driving lightweight construction. If the most suitable material, with its particular characteristics, is deployed in the right place, this will ideally produce the optimal system solution sought both in terms of design and economy.

Series manufacturing requires suitable production and bonding technologies such as plant and machinery manufacturers have to offer. The Working Group’s areas of activity will extend from materials by way of bonding technologies to production technology networking. The overarching questions to be examined will include simulation methods, functional integration and life cycle considerations.

EU Platform With Industrial-Policy Significance

The Working Group Hybrid Lightweight Technologies will be application-oriented and consider a wide range of materials and industries. “We are creating a platform for the exchange of experience that will be accessible across Europe, with the aim of helping its members to develop markets and strengthen their market position worldwide,” says Peter Egger, Chairman of the Working Group. “An event concept and the development of existing trade fair activities will make an important contribution to this.”

In the coalition agreement, the Federal Government ranks lightweight construction as a particularly important sector alongside Industry 4.0. The year 2015 saw the publication of a study of the current state of lightweight construction in Germany (‘Bestandsaufnahme Leichtbau in Deutschland’), commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. This will serve as a basis for an industrial-policy dialogue, to which the VDMA’s Working Group Hybrid Lightweight Technologies will make a major contribution.

Posted January 22, 2016

Source: VDMA

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