UK automotive sector keeps on investing

The automotive supply chain has been busy meeting the needs of OEMs in 2015, and is set to do the same this year. UK moulders have been investing record sums in new machinery, software and tooling as they try to keep up with the return in demand for domestically manufactured vehicles.

At the same time they are competing for skilled workers in a shrinking market with an ageing workforce.

Paul Chippendale, director of moulding firm ICM, which is in the process of relocating its business from Hitchin in Hertfordshire to larger premises in Milton Keynes, believes it will be easier for his firm to recruit staff to an ‘MK postcode'. The move is expected to be completed this summer.

ICM, which won an accolade from General Motors as a preferred supplier in 2013, is a Tier Two supplier and produces parts for French automotive supplier Plastic Omnium, and Magna owner Grupo Antolin, a Spanish supplier with global operations.

The company, which employs a workforce of 23, invested in two 550 tonne Arburg injection moulding machines last year. It already had one 550t and one 150t Arburg unit. Chippendale says: “In the last 18 months we have invested a £750,000 in the business which is located in premises twice the size of our existing Hitchin facility.”

Material suppliers to the automotive industry have been equally busy coming up with polymer technology which will continue to help the transportation industry meet its environmental obligations, notably through lightweighting. Recycled materials supplier Luxus has been focusing on the development of its Hycolene range, which sees filled compounds replaced with next generation additives. Sajid Mohammed, associate commercial director at Luxus, says: “This means we can deliver high quality, lightweight, sustainable performance benefits that are equal to, if not better than, prime polymer.”

He adds 2015 also saw the renaissance in microcellular technologies for thermoplastics applications since they have the potential to improve production economics by reducing the volume of resin required, plus the added bonus of lightweighting.

However, Mohammed warns the cost of developing foam technologies can still be prohibitive. “Low density parts are expensive in low production runs; they require chemical blowing agents and highly specialist equipment.”

He believes that increased and better collaboration is needed, as OEMs are moving their material considerations increasingly upstream.

Mark Ellis, material design and test manager at Nissan Design Centre Europe, concurs. “Development of lower density, weight-reduction materials has been the main technology improvement during 2015,” he says. “The whole industry has realised the importance of automotive weight reduction and everyone has been working in a common direction to take weight out of current and future vehicles in order to enhance consumption and reduce their environmental impact.”

At the same time car design embellishment is continuing to reflect the changes in consumer taste. David Brereton, sales director at chrome plating specialist Borough, reveals subtle changes have been made to chrome in recent years to ensure its appeal to consumers does not stagnate. “In the past the choice was simple: bright chrome or nothing. But in recent years we have worked hard with our clients to create components with the durability and quality of chrome in different finishes.”

He adds that to make the plastic component electrically conductive, a layer of nickel is deposited in a chemical dipping process. “This nickel is applied over a catalytic palladium layer, which must become integral with the surface of the material for the bonding to be effective.”