Where does the use of alternative materials in interiors go, asks Ryan Borroff
The inside story T
he process to simplify interior systems and components, while adding value for both automakers and end
users, is increasingly complex, complicated by the requirement to provide more innovative and more sustainable products – often with reduced mass and weight – while minimising process and material costs, and meeting end-of-life vehicle recycling legislation. “When you talk about
innovation…you can basically do three things,” explains Han Hendriks, vice president of Advanced Product Development Automotive Electronics & Interiors at Johnson Controls. “You can integrate functionality and take weight out. Or you can substitute materials [such as] carbon for steel. Or you can eliminate functions – just eliminate them – which is also a way…to take weight down. If you
26
combine that with new trends and expectations that consumers have for their future vehicle interference [and] appearance, [then] you’re also talking about new features and functions that you have to integrate, without adding too much weight or cost; or you try to take cost and weight out, while integrating new functions.”
Multiple approaches The solution lies in material and design innovation to integrate components into as few components as possible. This can be achieved in a number of ways; in the manner in which different components are integrated or in reducing the amount of component material[s] by combining roles. “The biggest surface areas in the
car are the seats you sit on and the instrument panel (IP),” explains Andreas Wlasak, vice president
www.automotivedesign.eu.com
industrial design, Faurecia. “And the large materials that cover these structures; more and more of this real estate…is taken away by decoration…or has been downgraded by various functions of electronics, [such as] screens and unit fixed areas. This means there are three different industries – the industry of making large component parts [with] perfect surfaces on one side; electronics and human machine interface (HMI) on the other side; and, on the third side, the industry of wood and aluminium, and other decoration materials – all fighting for the same square centimetres of real estate in an interior. “This battle is fairly new. It used
to be the case that there were places assigned to each, with each pretty much distinct in the past. They’re not anymore; they’re getting more and more blurred. Design will be required to play a greater role in managing all
May/June 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36