Engineers find more global common ground

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Suppliers to the new Toyota Aygo
The new Toyota Aygo minicar, which goes on sale in June, shares about
95 percent of its parts by value with the Peugeot 107 and the Citroen C1. All
three cars are built at Toyota and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen’s joint venture plant in
Kolin, Czech Republic. The factory has capacity to assemble 300,000 cars a
year. Each brand will get a third of the production, at least during the first year.
PISTON RINGS FOR
DIESEL ENGINE:
FEDERAL-MOGUL
EXHAUST MANIFOLD
GASKET FOR GASOLINE
ENGINE:
DANA
MANUAL
SHIFTER
SYSTEM:
FICOSA
GLOW PLUG FOR
DIESEL ENGINE:
BERU
COMPLETE
BRAKE SYSTEM:
BOSCH
Toyota had no spare capacity in Europe so working with PSA allowed the
Japanese carmaker to enter Europe’s competitive minicar market with a locally
built product without having to add another factory on its own. PSA took the
lead in purchasing because of its “experience in supplier relations” with Tier 1
and Tier 2 partsmakers, says Manabu Morisaka, chief engineer, Toyota product
100% WIRING
HARNESS:
YAZAKI
DASHBOARD:
PEGUFORM
FULL HVAC LOOP:
VALEO
INSTRUMENT CLUSTER:
SIEMENS VDO
planning. The Aygo does not make use of any major modules, but Robert
Bosch supplies the car’s brake system and Koyo provides the Aygo’s steering
system. Lear Corp. won the Aygo’s seating contract against competition from
Toyota Boshoku, Toyota’s majority-owned interiors supplier. Morisaka said Lear
“showed the best proposal to us.”
– Alex Graham
CURTAIN SIDE
AIRBAG:
TAKATA-PETRI
ALL INTERIOR
LIGHTING:
CML INNOVATIVE
TECHNOLOGIES
COMPLETE SEATS:
LEAR
FULL CAR GLAZING:
AGC AUTOMOTIVE
EUROPE
WEATHERSTRIP
BACK DOOR:
CF GOMMA
EXHAUST SYSTEM
HOT END:
FAURECIA
REAR WINDOW HINGE:
EDSCHA
SHOCK ABSORBERS:
KAYABA
AIR INLET DUCT
FOR DIESEL ENGINE:
MANN + HUMMEL
REAR LIGHTS:
AUTOMOTIVE
LIGHTING
AIR INTAKE MODULE
FOR GASOLINE ENGINE:
MECAPLAST
SPHERICAL GASKETS
FOR EXHAUST SYSTEM
(TIER 2 TO FUTABA):
OILES
PERMAGLIDE BEARINGS:
KOLBENSCHMIDT PIERBURG
HOOD LINER:
RIETER
EXHAUST SYSTEM COLD END:
FUTABA INDUSTRIAL
CAMSHAFTS FOR
DIESEL ENGINE:
MAHLE
TECHNICAL ADHESIVE TAPES:
SCAPA
VALVETRAIN FOR
DIESEL ENGINE:
INA
GAS TANK
HEATSHIELD:
LYDALL
CRANKSHAFTS:
THYSSENKRUPP
MULTI-MODE
TRANSMISSION:
AISIN
100% FUEL TANKS:
TI AUTOMOTIVE
CYLINDER HEAD
GASKETS:
ELRINGKLINGER
BODY SIDE MOLDINGS:
REHAU
COOLANT HOSES:
AVON, CIKAUTXO
THROTTLE BODIES:
MAGNETI MARELLI
FLUID CONNECTORS:
A RAYMOND
PEDAL BOXES:
CIMOS
COMPLETE WASHER
SYSTEM:
MGI COUTIER
HORN:
HELLA
CLUTCH CONTROL
CABLES:
HI-LEX CABLES
ACCELERATOR
CABLES:
DURA
FRONT COIL
SPRINGS:
ALLEVARD
REJNA
FRONT LOWER
CONTROL ARM BUSHING:
PAULSTRA
EXTERIOR MIRRORS:
MAGNA DONNELLY
ELECTRIC POWER
STEERING:
KOYO
WINDOW
REGULATOR WITH
MOTOR:
ARVINMERITOR
Engineers find more global common ground
Ford expert sees
rise in parts and
platform sharing
Is it any surprise that the man who
runs Ford Motor Co.’s North
American engineering operations
studied at the University of Paris?
It’s a shrinking world. Maybe in
another era, what was engineered
in America and what was engineered in Europe or Asia would
have been vastly different.
But today Will Boddie Jr., vice
president of North American vehicle engineering, finds his army of
10,000 North American engineers
grappling with the same issues as
his Ford counterparts overseas.
Reporter Lindsay Chappell talked
to Boddie.
The engineering issues that the
industry faces, in fuel economy
and in emissions – what’s really
driving that?
A lot of things. Increased environmental awareness. Politics. Even
the proliferation of the media. There
are more TV channels today showing news and discussing world political issues.
The growth in population density
is another factor. Problems become
much more acute when you go from
a low population density to a high
density. As the world population
increases, cities become much
more crowded, and people become
sensitive to issues that didn’t used
to be of concern.
Such as?
Like emissions regulations.
Emissions are a much more critical issue now than 15 years ago.
And we face conflicting engineer-
Will Boddie Jr.
Union now has regulations for
pedestrian safety that we comply
with. One regulation requires us to
measure the force of a dummy’s
head hitting the hood. It can’t
exceed a certain force.
What’s the likelihood of those regulations becoming major issues in
North America, too?
I doubt that will happen. Given the
data I was just referring to, the real
push of US legislation will still concentrate on occupant safety.
ing problems when you try to get
better fuel economy at the same
time as you reduce emissions. Try
to solve that while factoring in the
costs of the technology and the
realities of a very competitive marketplace, and it’s really problematic.
Another example is pedestrian
safety. If you look at traffic fatalities
in the US, up to 90 percent of the
deaths occur among people inside
their vehicles. But if you go to a
more densely populated place such
as India, about 90 percent of trafficrelated fatalities are pedestrians.
That’s because of different factors,
not least of which is infrastructure,
including the lack of sidewalks. In
India, a lot of people are in the
streets.
So we’re working in North
America to identify solutions to
make vehicles safer for pedestrians,
particularly for vehicles that sell in
emerging markets. The European
But there’s still the possibility that
your competitors could turn it into
an engineering issue for you.
Right. I’m only saying that I don’t
anticipate any legislation. That’s
not to say that there won’t be competitive pressure. You do have to
anticipate that. Most of our competitors sell in the same markets
that we do. Look at Volvo, for
example, which Ford owns. Volvo
has always been a leader in safety
issues, and they’re very concerned
about pedestrian safety. I would
anticipate them being a leader on
that front, too.
Is there still that much of a difference between European engineering and North American
engineering? Or is it melding into
one outlook now that we have
globalized?
Certainly we’ve turned up our
efforts on commonality. When it
comes to cost, we’re using many
more common parts and also common platforms – so long as it doesn’t affect consumer perceptions.
We’re also making our engineering standards common, where they
are critical. But you still have to satisfy the differences in the marketplace. And there is still a vast
difference between the markets,
much more than I ever realized.
European market requirements
are different from those of the US,
which are different from those of
Japan. You can’t become so commonized that you fail to satisfy the
market.
Take brakes [as an example].
Europeans travel at higher speeds
than Americans do. The European
brakes have to function with a lot of
high-speed stops. They’re not particularly sensitive to dust or noise.
Americans are sensitive to noise
and dust. And then in Japan, where
the average speed is about 50kph.
They don’t need brakes that are as
big as ours.
You have to try to optimize the
costs in each market. But the challenge is still making sure that you
deliver the right product that consumers there are looking for.
So to some extent, global issues
become US issues. Fifteen years
ago, something like diesel injection
wasn’t the real battlefield for the
industry, and so it wasn’t a training
ground for Ford’s young engineers.
So where do you find all the engineers you need now who know what
they’re doing in diesel?
We’re actually trying to grow our
own people. For that particular
technology, finding engineers isn’t
really a problem. Ford has always
had people working in diesel, especially in Europe. We have many
experts. And this is an area that’s
attracting people.
Diesel is still new, and there’s
an awful lot of opportunity to
invent solutions. If I were a young
engineer, I’d much rather be working on a new diesel fuel-injection
system than recalibrating an Fseries truck. ANE
FUEL LINE FOR
DIESEL ENGINE:
HUTCHINSON
Suppliers wanted
If you are a supplier and have
questions or want your information
considered for our cutaway features,
contact Alex Graham at
[email protected]
supply line
Bosch invests
E180m in India
Bosch will invest E180 million in
India between now and 2007
with E100 million devoted to
developing and building common-rail diesel injection systems in Bangalore and Nashik.
Bosch expects the market share
of common-rail diesels in India to
grow from near zero to 60 percent
in the next 10 years as the country tightens its emissions rules.
– Ian Morton
AUTOSAR adds
1st Indian member
Infosys, an India-based consulting and information technology
services specialist, has joined
Automotive
Open
System
Architecture, or AUTOSAR.
Infosys is the first Indian company to become part of the
group, which is made up of
automakers and suppliers
developing a common electrical
architecture and operating systems for vehicles.
JCI will buy
Delphi battery unit
DETROIT – Johnson Controls
Inc. will acquire Delphi’s global
automotive battery business.
The $212.5 million (E165 million) acquisition includes Delphi’s
battery operations in more than
10 countries, including joint ventures in China and South Korea,
but not in the US.
The deal includes a long-term
contract to supply batteries for
General Motors vehicles.