Schuler Wins Automotive Award
Schuler Incorporated (Canton, MI) was named a 2013 Automotive News PACE (Premier Automotive Suppliers’ Contribution to Excellence) Award winner at an awards ceremony on April 15 in Detroit. The prestigious award recognizes automotive suppliers for superior innovation, technological advancement and business performance.
The company was recognized for its Hydroforming Global Die Design and Process. This innovation is two-fold in terms of technical and commercial advances. They won in the Manufacturing Process and Capital Equipment category that recognizes innovations involving game-changing processes (manufacturing or business) or innovative capital equipment that support the automotive supply chain or manufacturing processes.
The engineering team in Canton is advancing the use of high strength steels such as DP1000 and other advanced materials which deliver lightweight tubular shapes for vehicle structures. The end results are auto designs that can bring consumers more fuel efficient cars with better impact and crash performance.
In addition, this hydroforming process commoditizes hydroformed components, making the process more cost effective than ever before. Hydroforming is now feasible for more applications to deliver light, structurally strong and innovative car designs for global platforms.
Global standardization of the component and die design delivers flexibility to produce consistent body-in-white parts by tier hydroformers in any region.
The first commercial example of this hydroforming global die standardization and process are on the Ford 2013 Fusion/Mondeo platform with three hydroformed components being produced from the same die design by hydroformers in three different regions around the world (North America, Europe and Asia).
“The global die concept is a game changer that drives hydroforming toward a commodity process. It sounds easy, but is technically challenging to design a die that can produce the same part with the same die anywhere in the world,” said Tim McCaughey, the president and chief executive officer. “We are extremely honored to receive the PACE award; it validates our belief in the capabilities of our team as a global leader in delivering innovative metalforming solutions. This recognition brings our capabilities to the attention of automakers around the world. Our team is energized and plans to push the envelope with advanced materials in hydroforming.”
The 19th annual PACE Award was presented by Automotive News, Ernst & Young and Transportation Research Center Inc. The competition was open to suppliers who contribute products, processes, materials or services directly to the manufacture of cars or trucks. The PACE Award is accepted around the world as the industry symbol of innovation.
Schuler Incorporated earned an Automotive News PACE Award following an extensive review process by an independent panel of judges, as well as a comprehensive written application and a site visit.
