The following report describes the current state of the art in vehicle recycling by focusing on operations that affect the recycling of copper. For this purpose, selected dismantlers and shredding companies were visited and representatives from industry organizations were interviewed. Selected OEMs have also been interviewed to better understand the impact of regulations on their vehicle design and on their research focus.
The Center for Automotive Research has undertaken the CAR-Microsoft Program on Automotive Industry Practices. The program is a four-year research effort consisting of indepth, focused interviews with industry participants on subjects of importance to all industry stakeholders. The intent of this paper is to investigate how different companies have adapted their product development processes to the changing competitive climate and how they utilize new technologies (e.g., weblogs, internet chat rooms, and other such digital communications) to transform their vision into products. The focus is not on the tools or the specific strategies, but rather on the information channels product design teams use for inspiration and understanding the market and on how the product design teams work together to create “cool” products.
This study was sponsored by Microsoft Corporation.
The Digital Body Development System (DBDS) is 4 year project to shorten the time to launch vehicles by improving the launch problem solving process.
This report will focus on how the industry is addressing warranty issues that appear to be systemic in nature, and would thus present significant potential cost exposure.
Prepared for the Program on Automotive Practices Sponsored by Microsoft Corporation.
This file contains an executive summary of the study. To obtain the complete study, please contact Brett Smith at (734) 929-0491.
Sponsored by the Center for Transportation Research at Argonne National Laboratory.
This paper introduces three auto body build concepts: net build (NB), functional build (FB) and integrated build (IB). Most manufacturers design and validate their vehicle launches using the NB concept.
Report published in the International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, Volume 3, No. 3/4, 2003.