Problem: 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 Department of Defense and several universities. [...]

Problem: 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 [...]