PERFORMANCE
OF
COMPLETED
PROJECTS
STATUS REPORT
NUMBER 1
NIST
SPECIAL PUB 950-1
Economic
Assessment Office
Advanced Technology Program
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
William
F. Long
Business Performance Research Associates, Inc.
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
March
1999
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Executive Summary
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 - Overview of Completed Projects
Characteristics
of the Projects
Timeline of Expected ATP Project
Activities and Impacts
Gains in Technical Knowledge
Dissemination of New Knowledge
Commercialization of the New Technology
Broad-Based Economic Benefits
CHAPTER 2 - Biotechnology
Aastrom
Biosciences, Inc.
Aphios Corporation
Molecular Simulations, Inc.
Thermo Trilogy Corporation
Tissue Engineering, Inc.
CHAPTER 3 - Chemicals and Chemical Processing
BioTraces,
Inc.
CHAPTER 4 - Discrete Manufacturing
Auto Body Consortium (Joint Venture)
HelpMate Robotics, Inc.
PreAmp Consortium (Joint Venture)
Saginaw Machine Systems, Inc.
CHAPTER 5 - Electronics
Accuwave
Corporation
AstroPower, Inc.
Cree Research, Inc.
Cynosure, Inc.
Diamond Semiconductor Group, LLC
FSI International, Inc.
Galileo Corporation
Hampshire Instruments, Inc. (Joint Venture)
Illinois Superconductor Corporation
Light Age, Inc.
Lucent Technologies, Inc.
Multi-Film Venture (Joint Venture)
Nonvolatile Electronics, Inc.
Spire Corporation
Thomas Electronics, Inc.
CHAPTER 6 - Energy and Environment
American
Superconductor Corporation
Armstrong World Industries, Inc.
E.I. duPont de Nemours & Company
Michigan Molecular Institute
CHAPTER 7 - Information, Computers, and Communications
Communication
Intelligence Corporation #1
Communication Intelligence Corporation #2
Engineering Animation, Inc.
ETOM Technologies, Inc.
Mathematical Technologies, Inc.
Torrent Systems, Inc.
CHAPTER 8 - Materials
AlliedSignal,
Inc.
Geltech Incorporated
IBM Corporation
APPENDICES
Appendix
A: Development of New Knowledge and
Early Commercial Products and Processes
Appendix
B: Terminated Projects
END
NOTES
End
Notes
Click here
for PDF version of report.
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Auto
Body Consortium
(Joint Venture, formerly 2mm Auto Body Consortium)
A Systems Solution to a Quality Problem in Auto Body Manufacturing
| Just
a few millimeters make a big difference on an automated assembly
line as doors, hood, windshield, wheel housings and other parts
are installed on a body-in-white (BIW), the partially completed
body of an automobile. If BIW openings are slightly off kilter
or parts vary much from specifications, the overall fit and
finish of the completed car suffers. When dimensions vary more
radically, a BIW may have to be custom-assembled by hand. In
addition, if the variations grow too large, the entire BIW may
be pulled from the assembly line and junked. |
Assembly
plant staff members monitor operations using real-time analysis
tools.
Toward
a Tightly Fitted Car Body
In contrast,
a tightly fitted car means fewer defects, less time and money for
factory repairs, better appearance and performance for the owner,
and lower long-term maintenance costs. And the quicker assembly-line
changeovers can be made while retaining tightness of fit, the faster
new models can be introduced at reasonable cost.
A
U.S. Problem Overcome
The problem
of "dimensional variation" has cost the U.S. automotive industry
dearly in product quality, wasted materials, increased production
time and lost sales. While European auto makers were building cars
with dimensional variations less than 2.5 mm and Japanese manufacturers
were achieving results at or below 2 mm, U.S. producers were assembling
cars with as much as 5- or 6-mm variation. But with completion of
ATP's "2mm Project" in 1995, American auto makers have shown a marked
increase in their ability to assemble cars with world-class precision.
In all five Chrysler and General Motors (GM) auto assembly plants
where the new methods were tested, overall dimensional variation
was brought down to, or below, the 2 mm standard. In addition, other
technologies developed by the project have yet to reach the assembly
line, and their full implementation in auto body plants promises
to reduce dimensional variation even further.
The computer
display for one of the many diagnostic procedures provided by the
new dimension control system.
Lower
Production Costs
With an investment
of $4.9 million from the ATP and $9 million from the automobile
industry, the 2mm Project developed a number of interrelated technologies
and processes that have already cut net production costs (actual
costs less the cost of implementing 2mm technologies) by $10 to
$25 per vehicle in plants where they have been tested.
(1) When full adoption
by all GM and Chrysler assembly plants is achieved - probably by
the year 2000 - annual production cost savings are projected in
the range of $65 million to $160 million on the current production
volume of 6.5 million vehicles, which amounts to 48 percent of the
cars and light trucks sold in the United States. Some of the cost
savings are likely to be passed on to consumers as a result of competition
among U.S. and foreign producers in the new vehicle market in the
United States.
Less
Maintenance, Faster Launch
Cars and trucks
built with 2mm Project innovations should also cost less to maintain
as better body fit results in reduced wear, less rust and fewer
other problems. These savings are estimated to range from $50 to
$100 per vehicle over its useful lifetime. Several years after GM
and Chrysler have fully implemented the 2mm Project results, total
maintenance savings are expected to reach $325 million to $650 million
per year based on current production volume. And, although a dollar
value has not yet been estimated, the new technology is expected
to decrease the time required to launch new auto models.
Higher
Quality and Lower Costs Mean Increased Market Share and Jobs
In addition,
assuming the 2mm Project quality and cost improvements lead to at
least a 1 percent increase in market share for GM and Chrysler (at
the expense of vehicles built abroad), economic projections show
an overall increase in U.S. economic output in the year 2000 of
more than $3 billion and the creation of around 70,000 new jobs.
These estimates take into account the impact of an increase in vehicle
sales on related sectors, but they do not include any increases
due to adoption of 2mm technologies by companies outside the auto
industry.
Collaborative
Research to Solve a Complex Systems Problem
The 2mm Project
was initiated by the Auto Body Consortium (eight small- and medium-size
companies that provide tooling and engineering services for auto
body assembly lines), two big auto manufacturers (Chrysler and General
Motors) and two universities, one a joint venture partner, and the
other a subcontractor. The joint venture treated BIW dimensional
variation as a systems problem, selecting 11 subprojects, or tasks,
to be accomplished in four general areas. Separate task groups,
with staff from various joint venture members, worked on each subproject.
After the operational tasks were completed, the final task of the
2mm Project was to synthesize the information, processes and lessons
learned from the research and incorporate the results into a user-friendly
database to help companies adopt the new technologies and methodologies
and establish an infrastructure for future improvements.
The 2mm Project
would have been difficult to achieve without the involvement of
the ATP for several reasons. Dimensional variation in auto body
production is a systems problem that could not have been solved
by any one of the 11 project members alone. The ATP encourages formation
of joint ventures like the Auto Body Consortium to solve complex
systems problems. The public/private partnership was helpful in
the face of a long history of federal antitrust enforcement that
has left auto makers fearful of cooperating with each other without
federal government involvement. Assembly line suppliers are generally
small- or medium-size companies without research budgets large enough
to fund work of the type undertaken by the 2mm Project, and auto
makers have been reluctant to fund research by their suppliers.
The fact that development risks were unevenly born by consortium
member firms was another obstacle that ATP participation helped
to overcome.
ATP's participation
in the 2mm Project proved critical to the formation of this research
joint venture. The ATP provided the catalyst needed to overcome
multiple barriers. ATP's financial contribution helped small- and
medium-supplier companies pay for an expanded university effort
while large assemblers provided most of the industry cost share,
to cover their own expenses and joint venture overhead.
The 2mm Project
shows how small- and medium-size supply companies, large auto producers,
and universities were able to cooperate in the development of an
integrated system to reduce dimensional variation in body assembly
and to improve the quality of the final product. It also demonstrates
the unique role that comparatively modest investments of money and
leadership by ATP can play in catalyzing complex, cooperative research
ventures that pay off handsomely in technological and economic returns.
Widespread
Adoption Underway in Auto Plants
The new approach
to tighter dimensional fit has been put into use in six of 10 Chrysler
plants and 16 of 31 GM plants in the U.S. and Canada, and it is
being transferred to the remaining GM and Chrysler plants and to
Ford Motor Company through the supplier chain.
PROJECT:
To develop improved measurement technology and process control
needed to achieve tighter fit - as well as better quality and
lower costs - in auto bodies and other products assembled from
sheet metal parts.
Duration: 9/1/1992 - 10/31/1995
ATP number: 91-01-0177
FUNDING
(in thousands)::
| ATP |
$ 4,487 |
43% |
| Companies |
6,048 |
57% |
| Total |
$10,535 |
|
ACCOMPLISHMENTS::
The project achieved the R&D goal of developing measurement
and process control technology, which participating companies
verified in several in-plant tests. Widespread adoption of the
technology is now underway in auto assembly plants. Indicative
of progress, the companies:
- cut
dimensional variation in auto body assembly to a world-class
standard of 2 mm or less and demonstrated the reduction
with existing workforces in all five plants initially targeted
by the project;
- reduced
production costs by $10 to $25 per vehicle at two plants
initially adopting the technology, savings that are expected,
according to consortium staff, to be applied eventually
in plants which produce all 6.5 million cars and light trucks
produced annually by Chrysler and General Motors;
- reduced
expected future maintenance costs by an estimated $50-$100
per vehicle;
- published
several papers in professional journals;
- published
The Capture and Communication of Knowledge: A Lessons-Learned
Approach, a manual that will speed the adoption of the technologies
and processes developed during the ATP project by showing
how to implement them;
- worked
with the University of Michigan to begin transferring the
technology to other GM and Chrysler assembly plants beyond
the original five, implementing it thus far in 22 plants
in the United States and Canada;
- generated
via ISI Automation Group (formerly ISI Robotics) the spin-off
development of a new type of clamp, called the SofTouch,
for holding sheet metal parts during assembly; and
- provided
member auto assembly companies a "quality" peg on which
to hang marketing literature - Chrysler highlights the fact
that its new Concorde "literally has a two-millimeter body."
COMMERCIALIZATION
STATUS::
Some supplier companies have incorporated the new measurement
and process technology in assembly line equipment, and the new
approach to tighter fit has been put into use in six of 10 Chrysler
plants and 16 of 31 GM plants in the United States and Canada.
Net production cost reductions of $10 to $25 per vehicle are
estimated to have already been achieved using the new approach,
meaning millions of dollars saved per year. Higher-quality vehicles
from these plants are becoming available to consumers, and U.S.
manufacturers are expected to increase their market share.
OUTLOOK::
Because the technology is being used and being systematically
transferred to additional plants, the outlook is excellent.
It is now being transferred to all Chrysler and GM plants, and
through the supply chain, to Ford Motor Company. The technology
is expected also to be adopted or adapted for use by other discrete
manufacturers in, for example, the appliance and furniture industries.
Auto assembly companies that adopt this new technology can expect
to save hundreds of millions of dollars annually in production
and maintenance costs. Consumers will benefit from higher-quality
vehicles and will likely see some of the manufacturing cost
savings. Producers and consumers are expected to benefit from
yearly savings of up to $650 million in auto maintenance costs.
Quality improvements resulting from the project have been projected
to boost U.S. industrial output by the automotive and related
industries by more than $3 billion in the year 2000 and to create
thousands of new jobs. To the extent the quality improvements
extend to other manufacturing industries, the output and employment
effects will be even greater.
COMPANIES::
Auto Body Consortium (joint venture lead; formerly 2mm Auto
Body Consortium)
2901 Hubbard Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Contact:
Ernest Vahala
Phone: (734) 741-5905
Joint
venture participants: CDI-Modern Engineering; Classic
Design, Inc.; Detroit Center Tool, Inc.; ISI Robotics; Perceptron,
Inc.; Pioneer Engineering & Manufacturing; Progressive
Tool & Industries, Inc.; Weber Technologies, LLC; Chrysler
Corporation; General Motors Corporation (GM), Technical Center;
University of Michigan, Mechanical Engineering and Applied
Mechanics.
Subcontractor:
Wayne State University
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Return to Top
of Page
Go to other
sections of Chapter 4: DISCRETE MANUFACTURING
A Systems Solution to a Quality Problem in Auto Body Manufacturing
Robot Navigation Technology
New Models to Speed the Development of Electronics
Components
Better Precision for Machine Tools Through
Thermal-Error Correction
Date created:
March 1999
Last updated:
April 12, 2005
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