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Materials & Lightweighting

Understand the future of automotive components and materials

Lightweighting is one of the biggest challenges automotive manufacturers face today. Material and manufacturing process selection is critical to achieving lighter components in the car, contributing to the important topic of emission targets adherence by all automakers worldwide. The Materials and Lightweighting domain at IHS Markit aim to understand what material trends are happening today and what will happen in the future of the passenger vehicle market.

The Materials and Lightweighting domain help you:

  • Assess the evolution of materials and manufacturing processes used in different vehicle domains (Body-in-White, Chassis, Powertrain, etc.)
  • Analyze how different manufacturing groups are approaching the material/process selection task, achieving different weight reduction strategies
  • Understand the impact specific materials and processes have on the weight of selected components in different vehicle domains

Materials and Lightweighting Modules

Materials and Lightweighting from IHS Markit provides OEMs and suppliers comprehensive data and analytics to better understand the materials and manufacturing processes used in different vehicle domains (Body-in-White, Chassis and Powertrain).
Body-in-White

Body-in-White (BIW) represents the core structure of each car. As such this is the main target for automakers to achieve weight gains, being usually the heaviest portion of the car. Historically automakers have been focusing on becoming more efficient in using the same materials over and over again, but with material science progresses, new materials and new manufacturing processes have come out with new and powerful applications also in the automotive sector. By selecting to manufacture a structural component, for example a pillar, using an advanced grade of steel instead of the common mild steel, OEMs are able to achieve  weight losses of several kilos. The same goes with using a different manufacturing process on the same material. This has tremendous impacts on the overall efficiency of the car and contributing to the adherence to emission targets set globally.

The BIW module developed by the Supply Chain & Technology Team at IHS Markit offers a 12-year forecast, with model+bodystyle level information on BIW components’ materials, manufacturing processes and estimated component weight. With this unique and powerful granularity of data, users will be able to assess how and when a material/process change will happen on a specific BIW component and which impact on weight this change will have. An analytic dashboard will enable the user to slice the data in pre-determined ways, helping them assessing the BIW forecast easily.

Chassis
Module not yet available. Launching soon.
Powertrain
Module not yet available. Launching soon.

Experts

Paolo Martino

Mr. Martino is Associate Director in the Supply Chain & Technology group and is Practice Leader for the Chassis and Materials domains, coordinating and directing a global team of analysts on researching these two topics. He has 10 years of experience working in the automotive industry, helping OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers grow. Thanks also to his previous work in consulting, where he worked until mid-2016, he has been involved in multiple projects assessing OEM lightweighting and materials strategies or evaluating new technology trajectories for Tier 1 Suppliers in the chassis domain. Before then he was a consultant in Lean Management at a management consultancy in Italy.Paolo holds a Master of Science in Economics and Management of Innovation & Technology and a Bachelor in Business Administration, both from Bocconi University in Milan.

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Edwin Pope

Mr. Pope is a Principal Analyst within the Supply Chain and Technology group of IHS Markit. In his current role, he builds the data structure of the lightweighting practice by connecting data sources and applying a bottom up approach to materials forecasting.He also develops and maintains vehicle system level weight regressions. He previously worked for: The United States Army as Signal Corps Officer, Exova Group PLC as a Materials Laboratory Production Supervisor, and General Motors as a Mass (Weight) Engineer on the 8th Generation Corvette. He speaks a little Japanese and holds a bachelor's degree in Physics from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. His analytical interests include: Lightweighting, Materials, 3D Printing, Hydrogen Fuel Cells, and Blockchain Technology.

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