Prestigious technology award to Alcoa
Farsund Avis - Svein Morten Havaas
Alcoa Automotive in Farsund has been given the 2004 Casting of the Year Award. The award was given to the company for the development of the control-arm for the BMW X5 SUV, 7- and 5-series and Rolls Royce.
The award was presented to the company by one of the world's most prestigious business associations for the industry, the American Foundry Society. This annual award is usually given to parts made especially for the defense and aerospace industry.
"That Alcoa got the award for a mass-produced part shows that we deliver world class products," says managing director Roy Hammer to Farsund Avis.
The control-arm is an important part of the steering, and contributes to the comfortable and precise handling BMW is known for. The plant in Farsund is one of the most modern in the industry. The complexity of the product and the high quality in the production process enables the company to compete in one of the world's toughest markets.
"High competence and high-tech production makes a factory in Norway able to compete with low-cost countries. That we get an award like this will improve our reputation in the marketplace," says Roy Hammer.
The advanced control-arm is developed in cooperation with Alcoa's Research & Development unit in Michigan, USA, the company's division in Germany and BMW. That Alcoa got the opportunity to get in early in the development process had a lot to say for the end result, according to Hammer.
"One thing is to design functional and high quality parts. But they also have to be mass-produced to make the price attractive for the customer. This is where our competence comes in. There is a lot of advanced engineering behind the development of these parts," says the Alcoa director.
Four of the BMW/Rolls Royce control-arms are produced in every "shoot". The factory produces 680,000 control-arms annually. Under normal circumstances, 1500 sets, or 3000 parts, every day. The control-arm, in addition to the two Volvo parts that are mass-produced at Lundevågen, is the most important part produced at the plant.
The control arm is cast in aluminium. The advanced casting process includes among other things that the part is filled with sand to make it hollow and light. The sand is poured out through a small hole - about three centimeters wide.
This technology enables Alcoa to produce a control-arm that is 40% lighter that a control arm in steel and 30% lighter than a similar control-arm in solid aluminium. The technology Alcoa has developed gives it a better performance than similar solid products. The control-arm to BMW and Rolls Royce is also made so car-owners don't have to worry that salt, dirt and water causing unwanted corrosion.
The prestigious award will probably earn the plant more praise in the Alcoa system.
"Things are starting to work for us. This award is a recognition of that we are successful at what we are doing," says Roy Hammer.
Product development and quality engineering were very early seen as the plants advantage and now this work is recognized. There is continuous development - of both new and old products.
"We are always working to develop new parts and get new contracts. However, the details surrounding this work are secret. I can't be very concrete about what we are working on, but we always have some exciting projects going," says Hammer.
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Managing director Roy Hammer studies the control-arm to BMW X5 SUV, 7- and 5-series and Rolls Royce that has given Alcoa Automotive in Farsund the prestigious award.
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