GM Names New Top Washington Lobbyist
Related: AutoBeat Group Posted: May 30, 2013 at 12:29 am General Motors Co. has promoted Victoria Barnes to executive director for federal affairs, The Detroit News reports. She will report to Lee Godown, vice president of global government relations. Barnes replaces Harry Lightsey, who has been named executive director for GM’s global connected consumer business, […]
Ford: Putting on the Top Hat
Related: Automotive Chassis For the past several years, automakers have been reducing product development and engineering costs through the reuse of parts and platforms. In several cases, this has resulted in products that look alike so there’s little differentiation between vehicle brands, save for interior trim packaging and optional equipment. But this has changed, in […]
Field Guide: GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms
The company GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms (Charlottesville, VA; www.gefanuc.com) supplies automation technologies and services. It started out in 1986 as GE Fanuc Automation Corporation, a joint venture created by General Electric and Fanuc. The company’s platinum anniversary gift to itself in October 2007 was a new name to reflect the way the business and the […]
FEV: Pursuing & Developing Powertrain Performance
Downsized, highly boosted engines, like Ford’s 1.0-liter EcoBoost, will become more commonplace in the immediate future, as will more cost-effective hybridization. Gary Rogers, president and CEO of FEV, believes that to achieve better fuel efficiency, there must be a comprehensive integration of systems beyond just the powertrain. Today’s in-car information technology can only suggest alternate […]
Engine Evaluation from the Inside
Related: Automotive Powertrain It was one of the most unusual demonstrations of a new technology I’d ever seen. Doug Strock, president of Predictive Fleet Technologies (PFT; engineangel.com), suggested we meet somewhere halfway between his office and mine. That put us in the largest parking lot near the freeway exit that merges into the Flint, Michigan, […]
ESP Made Simple & Some Implications of Electronics
The BMW in the background is supposed to be facing in the direction of the one in the foreground but it, unlike the other, is not fitted with the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) system from Continental Teves, so it is slip-slidin’ away. These are key elements of the ESP system. The large object to the […]
Examining Hydroforming
The hydroforming bay at Schuler’s North American headquarters in Canton, Michigan. Interest in hydroforming is growing, Jonathan Ball, hydroforming sales manager at Schuler Inc. (schulergroup.com), says, from a number of automotive perspectives, including both lightweighting and occupant safety. A closed-section hydroformed tube, whether dual-phase steel or aluminum, offers comparable protection to that of a stamped […]
Driving Toward Vehicle Automation
The proliferation of safety systems, both active and passive, have created the foundation for vehicle automation. However, unlike claims made via the hype surrounding this technology, it may take decades for its promise to be fully realized. Low cost Automatic Emergency Braking System fuses information from the radar unit of a base AEB unit with […]
Elements of the Jaguar F-TYPE
The clamshell hood is a single stamped aluminum panel. An aluminum alloy is used that allows achieving tight radii on character forms. Said Mark White, chief engineer, Body Complete, of the hood, “Not only is it a one-piece pressing, it’s where the first heartline [body character line] begins. When we produced that stamping, we all […]
Developments That Can Change Design & Production
Related: Automotive Production Related Suppliers Continental Corp. Federal-Mogul Visteon Automotive Systems Flat Is Better The title on Tom VanderLaan’s business card is “Manager, Super Integration,Visteon Automotive Systems, Visteon Technical Center.” This makes it fairly clear that VanderLaan and his colleagues in their labs in Dearborn aren’t just thinking about conventional approaches to integration for automotive electronics […]
