Ratcheting legislation continues to promote innovation in the manufacture of today’s automobiles. The environmental gap for the 2020 gas mileage target is a nearly 60% increase over the 2012 CAFÉ target; additionally, there is a 40% required improvement in carbon dioxide emission reductions for 2020. To achieve this, the OEM's are all looking at lightweighting their vehicles through higher specific strength body structures. One solution in practice is the use of lightweight alloy like aluminum and magnesium, and Ford is a leader in the mass production of vehicles using these alloys. The challenge for Ford has been that these alloys require changes in coating materials and processing, and this will continue to challenge the coatings industry as well. We will take a look at these changes, innovations and developments the coatings industry will need to foster to enable the continued implementation of lightweighting.

Perhaps the most famous coating-related statement ever made in the auto industry is Henry Ford’s “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black.” And from 1914 to 1926, that was the case. Arguably, until recent times, an analogous statement could be made: “Any customer can have a car made any way he or she wants, so long as it is made of steel and has an internal combustion engine.” But that statement is now as quaint as Ford’s original. There is a huge transformation going on in automotive technology, from what it is made of to what’s turning the wheels. We’ll look at what’s going on and why.

It is necessary to understand daily operating costs to be able to competitively price your product. This presentation will review the factors that affect the cost of running an electrocoat system including material, labor, utilities and system management. Determining operating costs will be demonstrated in a case study as well as illustrations of how to evaluate costs.