The automotive sector faces many challenges, such as dealing with supply chain disruptions, restructuring existing processes to meet new sustainability requirements, and driving out mass and cost while ensuring safety-critical parts are tough enough.
The good news is Trenton Forging has solutions for many of these modern challenges.
Modern Challenges in Automotive Manufacturing
Transition to EVs & Lightweighting
Vehicles have been getting larger and heavier every year, primarily due to consumer demand and safety regulations. At the same time, governments have also implemented various fuel efficiency and emission reduction mandates that push manufacturers to take out as much mass as possible.
Additionally, manufacturers have been pressured (by the government and consumers) in recent years to develop battery electric vehicles (BEVs/EVs). Unfortunately, the energy density of even the most advanced batteries is far lower than that of gasoline, so BEVs tend to be significantly heavier and sometimes larger than the equivalent internal combustion engine vehicles.
Increasing vehicle weight and an urgent need to take mass out have left automotive manufacturers and their suppliers searching for options.
Fortunately, forging is compatible with many materials, including alloys with higher strength-to-weight ratios. Furthermore, forging improves a material’s grain structure and can create thinner, lighter parts than casting without compromising structural integrity.
Increasing Demand for Stronger Components
For many years, low-carbon steel (and occasionally stainless) were used to develop components for steering, suspension, and drivetrain applications. It’s affordable, machinable, and can be hardened and tempered to raise strength and toughness.
As manufacturers have sought out ways of raising strength-to-weight ratios, alloy and micro-alloy (or carbon steels with smaller proportions of alloying elements) have become popular. The downside is that these materials are more expensive and often harder to machine.
This puts greater emphasis on forging. Forging has long been preferred for automotive components because it can raise strength and toughness by creating grain flow. Additionally, taking parts close to the final shape reduces machining, saving both time and money. Although alloy and micro-alloy steels behave differently than carbon steel when forged, these challenges are not insurmountable for forging companies with high levels of process expertise.
Environmental Regulations
Environmental and sustainability pressures affect vehicle design, motivating investment in BEVs and automotive part manufacturing. Companies recognize the importance of contributing to these efforts but also see benefits to their operations.
Forging specifically helps companies improve sustainability efforts in two ways:
- Material waste and recycling: Forging reduces waste and lowers operating expenses and energy consumption by producing near-net components that require less machining. Offcuts and scrap that result from trimming flash can also be recycled.
- Energy: Forging requires heating billets to a temperature at which the metal will flow under pressure. Historically, this was done in batch furnaces, but companies like Trenton Forging are turning to far more efficient induction heating.
Supply Chain Disruptions
Efforts to drive down costs and maximize economies of scale, plus increasing moves toward component sharing, as seen in recent agreements with Chinese EV manufacturers, have resulted in long and complex supply chains. A primary concern with these is their vulnerability to disruption, as illustrated by the pandemic and even the Suez Canal blockage. On top of this, tariffs and tariff uncertainties make it increasingly difficult to plan and manage where components are best sourced from.
These supply chains tie up cash and, notably from a manufacturing perspective, reduce production flexibility. Should customer demand change, perhaps increasingly likely as tariffs alter vehicle pricing, manufacturers risk being left with parts they don’t need and short of those they do.
Sourcing from domestic forging companies like Trenton Forging simplifies supply chains and reduces the associated risks. Tariff concerns are mostly eliminated, and lead times are many weeks shorter, which better positions vehicle manufacturers to take advantage of changes in consumer demand.
Furthermore, Trenton Forging is known for having some of the best turnaround times in the industry, largely due to our ability to produce tooling in-house. On average, we can achieve product launches in as little as six weeks.
Overcome Manufacturing Challenges With Help From Trenton Forging
Overcome uncertainty with help from Trenton Forging. We’ve been a trusted, U.S.-based manufacturer since our founding nearly six decades ago. We specialize in impression die forging and can create asymmetrical and symmetrical components from a wide variety of materials. In addition to forging, our other capabilities include design and reverse engineering, machining, and die welding.
Please visit our website to learn more about our capabilities, or contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.
