Materials and Manufacturing Engineering Expertise
Serving the Forming and Metals Industries

Founded in 2002, Engineering Quality Solutions, Inc. has been dedicated to delivering quick and cost-effective materials and manufacturing solutions to all forming and fabricating challenges, providing our customers with the newest proven results the industry has to offer.

Experienced Trainer and Provider of Metallurgical and Stamping Support

Engineering Quality Solutions offers circle grid strain analysis, thinning strain analysis, forming limit curve generation, forming limit diagram generation, tooling buyoff assistance, steelmaking and formability training, workforce development training in sheet metal grades and their formability, holistic cost reduction, steel cargo damage claim analysis, and problem arbitration resolution for the steel, aluminum, and manufacturing (automotive and non-automotive) industries.

CASE STUDIES

They Called EQS

Stamping Tool Development

Stamping Tool Development

A major automaker sourced the stamping tool development and build for an entire vehicle with just one tooling supplier. In order for the tool build company to get paid, successful buyoff included passing strain analyses on over 100 critical stampings. Traditionally, the steel company sourced with the supply of each part was called upon for this analysis, but the automaker had not yet sourced production steel supply. What did the tooling supplier do?
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Powertrain Architectures for 21st Century Trucks

Powertrain Architectures for 21st Century Trucks

Improved Materials and Powertrain Architectures for 21st Century Trucks / Forming and Bonding of Reduced Gauge Iron Carbon Alloys for Truck Engineering (IMPACT/FABRICATE) was an early research program looking at the feasibility of using Advanced High Strength Steels in passenger and military tactical trucks. The consortium included Ford Motor Company, the American Iron & Steel Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the United States…
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Scrap Rate Reduction

Scrap Rate Reduction

A heavy truck manufacturer contracted the forming of critical parts to a Tier One stamper and dictated which sheet steel supplier was to be used. Over a short time, the scrap rate increased dramatically to about 10%.  The sheet metal supplier said (repeatedly) that they did not change mill processing so the issue was in the tooling or the stamping process.  The Tier One stamper said they did not change the tooling, lubricant, or cycle time.  What did the truck manufacturer do?
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Forming Limit Curve Generation

Forming Limit Curve Generation

An aerospace manufacturer knew there would be significant cost and weight savings if they could convert a machined part to a sheet metal stamping. They did some feasibility testing, but wanted greater confidence that they could be successful when forming different batches of sheet aluminum. What did the aerospace manufacturer do?
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Tooling Buyoff and Home Line Commissioning

Tooling Buyoff and Home Line Commissioning

A major sheet metal manufacturer was awarded a substantial amount of new business from an international automaker. This represented a major win for the company, but they knew the commitment came with additional Field Technical Services responsibilities. To satisfy the required support of vehicle pre-launch activities, the manufacturer could have increased staff, but were reluctant to hire to address a short-term need. What did the sheet metal manufacturer do?
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Tooling Buyoff and Home Line Commissioning

Workforce Development Training in Sheet Metal Grades and their Formability

EQS offers online and in-person training sessions customized to your needs to address the workforce skills development needs relative to sheet metals and their influence on the forming processes used at your manufacturing plant and within your supply base.

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Daniel J. Schaeffler

Meet Daniel J. Schaeffler, Ph.D.

President – Engineering Quality Solutions, Inc. (EQS)

Danny Schaeffler continues to support automotive and non-automotive OEMs and their stamping supply chain, as well as steel and aluminum producers and their service centers. His 35-year career has focused on materials selection and optimization, tooling buyoff, field formability analyses, manufacturing process improvement, cost savings/cost avoidance projects, and workforce development projects centered on the metallurgy and formability of sheet metals. Danny remains passionate about training the metal stamping community on sheet formability and how to make the best use out of their chosen sheet metal grades.

Danny spent 10 years at LTV Steel Company in customer-focused technical positions. At the time LTV Steel folded, Danny was the Automotive Product Applications Group Manager. He and his team focused on formability analysis and training; materials selection and optimization; tooling development and production launches for new vehicle programs; customer materials & manufacturing cost reduction efforts; forming/denting/structural computer simulation; and technical awareness and communications with the automotive manufacturers and their Tier One / Tier Two companies. Being able to provide these services as an independent company was one of the motivations that led to the creation of Engineering Quality Solutions in 2002.

Danny wrote the monthly Metal Matters column in Metalforming Magazine, and previously wrote their Science of Forming column after taking over that role from Dr. Stuart Keeler, known as the “Father of the Forming Limit Diagram.” He has made several presentations at the Stamping Journal Forum, FABTECH, and MetalForm Conferences, and wrote many articles for Stamping Journal and The Fabricator. Several times each year, Danny conducts one or two-day seminars on Sheet Metal Formability for the Precision Metalforming Association. Danny wrote two chapters in ASM Handbook, Volume 14B, Metalworking: Sheet Forming, and one section in ASM Handbook, Volume 11A: Analysis and Prevention of Component and Equipment Failures. He coordinated and taught several sheet formability programs at Oakland University (Michigan), and wrote and published Sheet Metal Forming – Engineering and Business Management. Danny serves on the Metals Specifications Committee of SAE International, and is Past President of the North American Deep Drawing Research Group. In addition, Danny recently revised and presented the AHSS Metallurgy and Formability Training materials for the Auto/Steel Partnership. He is the Metallurgy and Forming Technical Editor of the Advanced High Strength Steel Application Guidelines available from WorldAutoSteel.

Danny Schaeffler received his Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Materials Engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. While at Drexel, Danny held engineering and research positions with the David Taylor Research Center (Annapolis, MD) and Hoeganaes Corporation (Riverton, NJ).

See the full list of Daniel J. Schaeffler, Ph.D.: Publications and Presentations

Recommendations for Daniel J. Schaeffler, Ph.D.

“Danny is a top-flight metallurgist, and has built a company that has reputation for taking on and completing tough jobs, as well as collaborating with top talent in the field to drive for results for his customers.”

Jim Fekete, Technical Fellow, General Motors

“We have used Danny’s services for many years now and we have recommended him to other companies. I only have positive comments about his performance and delivery. Very professional and committed on what he does.”

Francisco Landeros

“Danny is the most knowledgeable person I know in the Sheet Metal Forming Industry. I value his expertise and enjoy working with him on various projects. He is always professional, but very easy to work with. Beyond our professional working relationship, he has also become a good friend.”

Darryl Case, President & CEO, EOS Technologies Inc.

“I have known Dr. Schaeffler for over ten years during my work at Ford Motor Company. My primary contact with him was during the Auto-Steel Partnership’s Dent and Ding Project that he headed while working for LTV, and I represented Ford Motor Company on the team. Danny is a very knowledgeable, hard working and results oriented engineer. He thinks the problems through methodically and comes up with excellent resolutions. In addition to this, he is a great manager and as everyone that knows him would gladly testify, a pleasure to work with.”

Rajashekhar Sharma, Product Design Engineer, Ford Motor Company

“I have known Danny for many years and worked with him on numerous projects during the time he was at LTV Steel and, more recently, as the President of EQS. Danny is a very talented, conscientious and dedicated individual. He does not over promise but will usually over deliver. I can highly recommend Danny for almost anything he would want to do.”

Curt Horvath, Technical Fellow - Materials and Corrosion Engineering, General Motors

“Danny is a first class engineer that I worked with at LTV Steel for many years witnessing his growth from a new employee to a very valuable member of the management team. During his time at LTV he became very knowledgeable about steel production and applications. He led many investigations to resolve issues with the performance of the company’s products showing a systematic, thorough and objective approach. As a result, he solved many difficult problems, identifying the root causes in both steel production and the users’ operations. He also showed excellent leadership skills while running the company’s automotive development group. I take great pleasure therefore in recommending Danny.”

John Hiam, Senior Director, LTV Steel

“I met Danny in 1998 through the North American Deep Drawing Research Group (NADDRG) while he was with LTV Steel. Currently, Danny is serving a two-year term as president of the NADDRG. In September 2008, Danny and I were asked to contribute to PMA’s Tool & Die Authority (TDA), which provides exclusive technical information and timely news by industry experts for tool and die professionals. Danny’s contribution to the newsletter pertains to sheet metal properties and sheet metal formability. Certainly, these can be very difficult concepts to convey to those of us (myself included) lacking a material science background. Fortunately, Danny has the ability to combine real world experiences (analogies), common sense and humor to address the complexity associated with metalforming mechanics and metallurgy. His efforts have, in my opinion, resulted in an easy to understand series of articles that convey difficult metal forming principles and abstract concepts to an audience of tool and die professionals. His research work in Advance High-Strength Steels (AHHS) will surely prove to be an asset to PMA, and the metalforming industry as a whole, as these materials gain more acceptance in the market place. On a personal note, if you ever get a chance to meet or work with Danny, I hope you enjoy his sense of humor as much as I do. He’s a real hoot!”

Peter Ulintz, Contributor, Tool & Die Authority, Precision Metalforming Association

“I know Danny for over ten years. I feel very fortunate to have opportunities to work with Danny in various occasions in the automotive and steel industries. He is extremely knowledgeable in the fields of metallurgy, steel making and stamping processes. Danny is very friendly and helpful. It’s really a pleasure to work with Danny.”

Sheng-Dong Liu, President & CEO, Generalety, LLC

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Danny for more than 10 years in various capacities from steel research, to sheet metal stamping formability and development to standardization activities (SAE & A/SP). Danny is a true technical professional who I highly recommend.”

Paul Belanger, Body Engineering Manager, Chrysler LLC

“Danny is a very professional and detail experience person. If you need anything releated to steel engineering. Danny is the person that you need to solve any problem.”

Gustavo Figueroa