Sep 8 2004
Corus has announced a major new contract to supply ZF Sachs, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of powertrain components, with its latest highcladâ product - a unique copper-clad steel that will be used to make the company’s latest generation of torque converters.
By using Corus’ material, ZF Sachs will be able to eliminate a costly and time consuming manual manufacturing process. As well as offering faster production cycles and reduced costs, by removing a manual stage and moving to a fully automated process, ZF Sachs will also be able to ensure a more consistent quality in the coated material used for the production of their latest torque converter assemblies.
The contract will see Corus Special Strip business, based in Trier supply the highcladâ material directly to ZF Sachs’ production facility. The torque converters are used by ZF Sachs for automatic transmissions which are supplied to many leading vehicle manufacturers.
Commenting on the contract win, Guido Wolf, Manager Strategic Marketing, Corus Special Strip said: “As market leaders in supplying plated material for the automotive brake line industry and with over 100 years experience, Corus Special Strip is no stranger to the sheet metal coating business. By combining this expertise with an innovative process technology and thanks to a close working relationship with ZF Sachs during the early development stages, we have been able to provide a unique material solution offering manufacturing cost and time efficiencies.”
Automotive components have been made from steel clad with more expensive materials such as copper to achieve enhanced levels of performance for many years. However, Corus Special Strip has developed a unique three stage manufacturing process, including innovative pre-treatment steps to the base material coil, which has allowed the company to produce its new generation of highcladâcoated materials.
“Now that the highcladâ manufacturing process is established and well tested, we are starting to evaluate the benefits of combining different materials such as aluminium with titanium,” continued Mr Wolf. 'The potential benefits for a number of other automotive applications, including car interiors, are very exciting and we are confident that we will be able to bring these revolutionary new products to market in the near future.”
Commenting on awarding the contract to Corus, Dietrich Bechmann, senior manager production, ZF Sachs said: “It was clear to us that Corus Special Strip had the necessary track record and expertise in coatings to be able to help us meet our material requirements for our new torque converters. As a leading global supplier of automotive powertrain components to many vehicle manufacturers, it was also very important for us to work with suppliers who meet our exacting requirements. After a thorough audit lasting over a week, we were confident that Corus also had the relevant quality management systems operating internally.”
Underlining this, Corus Special Strip has acquired accreditation to the new ISO TS16949 quality approval standard. Aimed primarily at tier one suppliers, TS 16949 is a technical specification developed and supported by vehicle manufacturers in Europe, America and Japan and will help define quality system requirements for the global automotive supply chain.
Mr Wolf concludes: “Having to meet third party approval through the new TS 16949 standard, has given ZF Sachs the added confidence that the quality management systems operating within Corus meet the most stringent requirements removing the need for them to undertake further second party audits.”
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