Wide range of processes for the demands of automotive lightweight construction
No plastics, no car. Saving weight, conserving resources, increasing safety and providing design freedom—these are just a few of the advantages compared to the traditional use of metals. The current megatrend of utilizing lightweight construction in the automotive industry would be impossible without plastics. Exterior, interior, structural or engine room components, transparent parts, sealing profiles or tires: From material preparation to processing finished articles, KraussMaffei provides machines and systems for the entire range of automotive industry products along the entire value chain.
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Regulating CO2emissions will provide growth in the hundreds of billions in lightweight automotive construction by 2030 according to a study conducted by the McKinsey & Company, Inc consultancy in early 2012. Automobile manufacturers will have to substantially increase the percentage of lightweight components in vehicles by 2030 from 30 to 70 percent to compensate for the weight that vehicles gain from an electric drive and fuel-efficient engine technology. Therefore the use of plastics as a substitute for metals will increase even more.
The various injection molding machine series from KraussMaffei cover the entire range of automotive industry products—from standard injection molding to automated, complex manufacturing cells producing parts with functional integration and quality surfaces using state-of-the-art molds. Furthermore, innovative process engineering from KraussMaffei helps you save weight and energy, protecting the environment, increasing safety and generating more freedom for designing components—in every part of the vehicle.
Methods and processes developed and used by KraussMaffei give you access to cutting-edge technology for efficient and reliable production in your specific automotive application, such as CleanForm (cleanroom) for ultrapure sunroofs, DecoForm (back injection), CCM (Clear Cold Molding) and IMD (In-Mold Decoration) for sensitive decorative materials, SpinForm (reversing plate technology) and TwinForm (multi-daylight mold) for increased production of parts for interior paneling, Multinject (multicomponent technology) for producing injection molded articles for the engine bay or WIT (Water Injection Technology) for manufacturing steering wheels and handles.
In addition to in-depth expertise in injection molding, KraussMaffei has thorough knowledge of Reaction Process Machinery and extrusion, making it the only company in the world positioned to fully utilize all three of the most important technologies in plastics processing. This expertise is used to implement much more complex applications than injection molding alone would allow: Either by linking compounding with Injection Molding Machinery for an integrated process (IMC), which allows you to achieve significant savings in material costs, or by using the SkinForm process combining the benefits of injection molding and PU processing, allowing you to produce complex components in a one-shot process and outfit them with new functions.
