Mega-Platforms Enable Lightweighting – But Risky, Too

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Automakers aren’t letting up on their shared grand strategy to reduce the number of vehicle platforms on which their model lineups are based.

This crusade in the name of cost reduction unquestionably complicates the job of the lightweight-materials industry, admits Jeff Williams, Johnson Controls vice president-Enterprise Operations and Engineering, at this week’s Center for Automotive Research’s Management Briefing Seminars here.

But there’s a silver lining, too: Mega-platforms offer mega-opportunities for car companies and suppliers making the right moves in implementing lightweighting design and engineering, Williams says.

“Supply dynamics are changing. The stakes are increasing,” Williams says at Monday’s session, “Lightweighting: From Manufacturing to Consumer Acceptance.”

Williams stresses, “These platforms are huge in scale, and there are fewer of them,” so suppliers of lightweight components or solutions that don’t get in on the ground floor are losing business on an ever-grander scale.

General Motors, for example, recently reiterated its plans to consolidate from about 14 global vehicle architectures today to just four distinct “vehicle sets” by 2025. Ford plans a similar platform reduction in the coming decade, as do several other global automakers.

Why mega-platforms?

Williams shows data suggesting automakers will enjoy at least a 10% reduction in non-recurring costs from the shift to mega-platforms. Max out all the variables and the savings in non-recurring costs could be as high as 20%.

The impact of not being included in mega-platforms will be enormous for component producers. Williams says suppliers of lightweighting solutions who already face many impediments to having their components replace conventional materials need to strengthen their collaboration and partnerships with their OEM customers.

To not make the right moves, he adds, means more than just missing today’s business. The dynamics of mega-platform engineering mean that it’s likely to become even more difficult to displace a component specified for a mega-platform, because production volumes will be exponentially greater.

Automakers will resist replacing the engineering process involved with specifying and approving components or systems used in such scale.

Moreover, Williams says, the shift to mega-platforms will place new pressure on suppliers’ quality, reliability and systems control. A major engineering miscue on a mega-platform will be, well, a mega-mistake.

Placing a new, lightweight component or system on a mega-platform can mean a significant business win, Williams says, the reason why all parties in the supply chain will seek the best solution.

For automakers, a new lightweight piece deployed in such volume means a giant gain from a single, incremental weight-saving choice. For suppliers engineering these weight-saving components, the mega-platform equation means quick – and likely lasting – return on investment.