The €2.4m project was announced during the Automotive Congress, held 23 May in Eindhoven, and involves six partners: Flanders Make (Leader), Automotive NL, AMAC GmbH, Technifutur, University of Liège and Campus Automobile Spa – Francorchamps.
The initiative will run between 2018 and 2021 and will bundle the technological competencies of the partners in order to help companies in the region access an extended supply chain using multi-material systems.
The region, in addition to being an automotive stronghold in Europe, hosts many highly innovative, leading companies and especially SMEs, which are active along the value chain in the areas of lightweight electric mobility and autonomous driving.
As part of the project, selected lightweight component prototypes will be designed and manufactured.
Also, the aim is to build a virtual technology centre on automotive engineering and manufacturing for the future.
“With lightweight materials, design and manufacturing, we create the future in automotive: safer, lighter, more fun to drive, environmentally friendly through material savings and reduced fuel consumption and CO2 emissions,” commented Dr. Michael Effing, founder and CEO of AMAC GmbH.
The project, he said, will show that lightweight designs and materials can also be cost-efficient in high-volume production cycles, thanks to new advancements in integrative manufacturing technologies using multi-material systems.