Manufacturing Rev.

2014, 1, 10
Ó S. Peters et al., Published by EDP Sciences, 2014
DOI: 10.1051/mfreview/2014010
Available online at:
http://mfr.edp-open.org

RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS

Automotive manufacturing technologies – an international

viewpoint

Steven Peters1,*, Gisela Lanza1, Jun Ni2, Jin Xiaoning2, Yi Pei-Yun3, and Marcello Colledani4
1
Institute of Production Science (wbk), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
2
Wu Manufacturing Research Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
3
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P.R. China
4
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20156 Milan, Italy

Received 15 June 2014 / Accepted 28 July 2014

Abstract – The automotive industry can be described as a backbone in many developed countries such as Japan,
Korea, USA, and Germany, while being an enabler for economic prosperity in developing countries like China, Brazil,
Eastern Europe, and Russia at the same time. However, the dynamics and uncertainty are increasing heavily by market
changes, regulations, customer behavior, and new product technologies. Manufacturing research has to find answers to
increase quality of products, flexibility of plants, and supply chain networks, to manage complexity in technologies and
variants and overall to stay competitive even in high wage countries. In this paper, major technological challenges are
discussed and the current state of manufacturing technology and research is presented. Moreover, for each technolog-
ical and organizational area, future industrial, and research challenges are highlighted.

Key words: Manufacturing technologies, Automotive industries, Sustainable mobility

1. Motivation 4 ~ 5% of the US gross domestic product and employed

716,900 people in 2011 [2]. In Japan, almost 790,000 people
Cars represent the pursuit of freedom of each individual like work directly in the automotive industry [3].
nothing else. The relevance of the automotive industry for eco- It is expected that the BRICs’ share of global vehicle sales
nomic prosperity and its impact on jobs can be seen in all major will edge towards the 50% mark by 2018 [4] and TRIAD and
markets and countries. Interestingly, both developed and devel- BRIC markets are expected to converge in terms of customer
oping countries see this industry as their backbone. While the demands and behavior within the next 5–6 years. As a matter
industry in TRIAD countries (USA, Japan, and EU) became of fact, China has already become the world’s largest automo-
a high-tech branch, BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, bile producer and market since 2009 [5]. The current 5-year
and China) started with simpler products. plan of the Chinese administration prepares China for a
In the European Union, about 16 million units are manufac- market-share of 30% of all cars in the world [6] and the Chinese
tured, which is about 26% of the world’s annual production. government views the development of the new energy vehicle
Hence, cars are one of the most important products with an industry as a top priority and has introduced policies and incen-
annual turnover of about 700 billion Euro [1]. There are about tives in its favor [4].
2 million direct jobs and another 10 million in related manufac- The presented figures illustrate the importance of the auto-
turing and other sectors within the automotive industry in the motive industry for all major economies. However, this leading
EU (including truck, suppliers, etc.). With its 210 production industry faces tough challenges due to emission limitations and
plants in Europe, the automotive industry exports 75 billion public opinion (compare [7]), unsustainable surge in petroleum
Euro of net trade every year [1]. It is also the largest sector consumption, high volatility and a (temporarily) low utilization
in private R&D investments with more than 5,800 patents in of capacity. In the automotive industry the number of jobs
2011 [1]. Being the most important player in Europe’s automo- depends to a high extent on manufacturing and consequently
tive industry, Germany has more than 750,000 employees so does the prosperity of an economy. Facing the mentioned
working directly in the automotive sector in more than 45 plants challenges means technological progresses in both, product
[1]. The automotive industry in the USA accounts for between and production. In the following, selected technological
approaches are discussed and the current state of manufacturing
*e-mail: steven.peters@kit.edu technology and research is presented. Moreover, for each
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
2 S. Peters et al.: Manufacturing Rev. 2014, 1, 10

technological and organizational area, future industrial, and

research challenges are highlighted.
The paper is therefore organized as follows: firstly current
state and roadmaps of selected core technologies with tremen-
dous impacts on manufacturing are given, secondly some key
enablers and also organizational issues are presented, before
the paper ends with some final remarks. No specific scientific
methodology was used to come up with the roadmap. Instead,
this viewpoint is driven by an ad hoc method to provide a
general assessment as well as a projection of future advanced
automotive manufacturing technologies.

2. Core technologies for future automotive

production
2.1. Battery technology and its manufacturing
Figure 1. Development of automotive batteries focuses on reducing
Today, batteries for battery electric vehicles (BEV) and material costs, reducing mass and improving durability. Core
hybrid cars are usually based on Li-ion technology holding technologies are automation, type-flexible lines and in-line quality
on to achieve 250 Euro/kWh on system level within a couple inspection devices. (Picture: KIT)
of years. However, there are several different designs such as
pouch cells (so called coffee bags), prismatic cells and round
cells. Round cells, which are coiled, require a well-known ‘‘Alpha-Laion’’ (funded by the German government) with
process technology and can be produced fast in an established Bosch, Daimler, BMW, BASF, Wacker, and SGL started with
roll-to-roll process. Pouch cells are more complex in handling the goal to develop Li-Ion batteries enabling a range of
and automation, but enable the easy separation of single, imper- 300 km by BEV.
fect sheets, which are identified by in-line optical inspection The leading-edge cluster ‘‘CLUSTER ELECTRIC MOBIL-
while building up a stack out of hundreds of coated sheets. ITY SOUTH-WEST’’ plays an important role in the industriali-
Approaches like Z-folding [8] of the separator try to combine sation of a strongly performing, low-emission and market-
both types of cells, but are generally based on pouch cells. driven mobility system of the future in Germany.
One major challenge is the lack of knowledge of, and experi-
ence with the long-term behavior of the batteries (‘‘breathing 2.2. Fuel cell technology and its manufacturing
cells’’), their chemical performance depending on battery man-
agement, the number and shape of cycles (e.g. fast charging), Fuel cell vehicles (FCV), with hydrogen as energy carrier,
and the dependence on climate conditions. To enhance have the potential to significantly reduce the dependence on
reliability prognosis and identify real critical quality character- fossil fuels and lower harmful emissions. Proton exchange
istics, improved electro-chemical and thermal models of membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), enjoying merits of quick
Li-Ion-Batteries are needed [9]. Figure 1 shows a coated cath- start-up, zero emission and high efficiency, are considered to
ode on Al-foil in battery production. be the most promising candidate for FCVs [13]. However, sev-
Due to the next generation of coating materials, slurries, and eral challenges must be overcome before these vehicles will be
electrolytes manufacturing processes will have to be adapted competitive with conventional vehicles. From a technological
again. Therefore, there is only limited time to earn the costs point of view, costs, and durability are the two greatest barriers
of the very expensive equipment. Moreover, variable costs for the commercialization of FCVs. On the one hand, the fuel
are very high for instance for the air-conditioned dry chambers. cell costs for mass production have been reduced from $275/
At the same time, the amount of sold electric cars is not kW in 2002 to $73/kW in 2008. This corresponds to almost
expected to reach dimensions of an automotive mass production $6,000 for an 80 kW system, which is still more than twice
within the next 10 years. Furthermore, Li-Sulphur, and Li- as expensive as internal-combustion engine systems [14].
Polymer are expected to become an alternative between 2020 In 2011, the cost further decreased to $49/kW for an 80 kW
and 2025 [10]. Li-Air is a promising option which is in focus (net) integrated transportation fuel cell power system, however,
of Volkswagen and IBM among others [11]. The US Depart- they are still higher than the US Department of Energy’s (DOE)
ment of Energy (DOE) even expects Li-Air technology to target to reach $30/kW by 2015 [15]. The largest part of a fuel
be ready in 2020 [12]. Alternative approaches deal among cell’s cost is the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) that con-
others with Li-Magnesium (e.g. Samsung, LG, Toyota) [11]. sists of a NafionÒ membrane and platinum-based catalyst.
Advanced batteries could compete or assist the fuel cell one The Pt loading has been reduced by two orders of magnitude
day. in the past decade and there is still room for further loading
To gain knowledge and boost ramp-up new cooperations reduction [16]. Another important factor is the improvement
occur: Robert Bosch GmbH, GS Yuasa, and Mitsubishi of manufacturing technology for bipolar plates (BPPs), which
started a joint venture. Recently a huge research project account for 40% of the total stack costs [17]. Metallic BPPs,
 S. Peters et al.: Manufacturing Rev. 2014, 1, 10 3

for FCVs. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC),

one of the largest car manufacturers in China, announced that
there will be about 1,000 FCVs assembled by the end of
2015 [25]. Furthermore, there is a string of alliances created
for the advancement of the commercialization for FCVs in
2013. General Motors and Honda Motor Co. will partner to
develop a common system for FCVs, while Toyota Motor
Corp. and BMW AG paired up on a fuel-cell production alli-
ance. Besides, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Co., and Nissan Motor
Co. announced that they would jointly develop a line of afford-
able fuel cell electric cars for sale as early as 2017. In summary,
the potential of FCVs has been well recognized worldwide,
although the fuel cell technology and most of all infrastructure
still need further advancement. Commercialization of FCVs is
Figure 2. Development of fuel cells focus on material costs and expected to begin around 2015 and the overall popularization
durability. Core technologies are ultra-low Pt catalysts, metallic might be around 2050 [26].
bipolar plates and advanced automation in production. (Picture:
Honda Motor Co.)
2.3. Hybrid lightweight construction and its
manufacturing
with 0.1 mm stainless steel sheets as raw material and stamping
process as mass production method, can reduce the costs more In order to increase the fuel efficiency and driving agility of
than conventional graphite BPPs [18]. Another target of the cars, lightweight strategies must be developed – especially with
DOE is to achieve a life time of 5,000 h durability with less respect to increasing efforts and weights caused by safety
than a 10% decay in performance for FCVs by 2015 [15]. Both restrictions and additional features such as entertainment
MEA and BPPs suffer degradation during long-term operations. devices. However, the requirements depend on the vehicle seg-
At the moment, most fuel cells show a major performance decay ment and volume. For the future, it is likely that a multi-
after approximately 1,000 h of usage [19, 20]. However, it is material approach will be used in many modern vehicle
reported that 3M Company recently achieved over 7,500 h of designs, which may include next-generation AHSS (advanced
service lifetime for the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) high strength steel), Al, Mg, metal matrix compounds, compos-
during their single-cell testing on the laboratory level, making ites, etc. Furthermore steel provides huge remaining potentials
it possible to meet the DOE’s 2015 target [16]. Besides, a multi- as demonstrated by the FutureSteelVehicle [27]. The new US
layer carbon film coated on the surface enables the metallic BPPs Institute ‘‘Lightweight & Modern Metals Manufacturing Inno-
to meet the durability requirement [21, 22]. It should also be vation (LM3I) Institute’’ focuses on lightweight by innovative
noted that the production, storage, end-use, and infrastructure metals [28]. USDrive gives a brief overview of significant
of hydrogen are still issues that need to be solved before challenges in the current material technology roadmaps [29].
commercialization. Figure 2 shows an approach of Honda. Nanotechnology plays an important role in future development
From a political point of view, governments, and companies of advanced metals (compare [30]) as well as microtechnology
around the world are supporting further development and com- which will enable functional surfaces for instance (compare
mercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies through ‘‘surface engineering’’ [31]). In the meanwhile near-net-shaping
policies and incentives. Germany, for example, has launched and forming will be continuously improved to enable a reduc-
one of the largest programs in the world: the ‘‘National Hydro- tion of waste and additional processes in production while
gen and Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Programme (NIP)’’ reducing weight at the same time.
[23]. The US government provided $41.9 million for the When talking about composites, the automation of process
Recovery Act to accelerate fuel cell commercialization and chains including in-line inspection, when hybridizing metals
deployment. The California Fuel Cell Partnership released and fiber-reinforced plastics, is an important precondition for
‘‘A California Road Map: Bringing Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehi- series production [32]. Especially the technologies and devices
cles to the Golden State’’, stating that with an estimated for handling and joining (mechanical, thermal and chemical)
53,000 vehicles on the road by 2017, more than 100 stations are very complex (compare Figure 3) and of crucial importance
will be built to ensure that the network has enough capacity for short cycle times in production and long durability in the
for additional vehicles [24]. The Japanese car manufacturers field. Davies gives a comprehensive overview of component
Toyota, Honda, and Nissan committed to launch programs for manufacturing and materials joining technologies [33].
cars powered by fuel cells in four metropolitan areas by the year At the moment, an improved Resine Transfer Molding
2015. Moreover, Korea, and Japan are working on fuel (RTM ) process is a promising way to reduce cycle times in
cell power plants and communication infrastructure [23]. China the production of CFRP down to less than 3 min [34]. During
is in its 12th Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2011– the next years, R&D in composite technology is likely to focus
2015). The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has on the improvement of the RTM technology with for example
approved a budget of 738 million RMB for electric vehicle high-pressure injection and compression [35]. New handling
(EV) R&D, of which 21% (155 million RMB) are designated technologies may be based on controlled vacuum or ultra-sonic
4 S. Peters et al.: Manufacturing Rev. 2014, 1, 10

Figure 4. Development focuses on shortening cycle times and

cutting costs (e.g. for materials) as well as on increasing reproduc-
Figure 3. Efforts in lightweight construction and manufacturing ibility. Core technologies are holistic optimization of chains and
focus on multi material understanding (corrosion, thermal expan- material models. (Picture: Fraunhofer ILT)
sion), shortening of cycle times and cutting costs of materials. Core
technologies are predictive modelling as well as handling, joining
and automation. (Picture: KIT)
promising results for almost all kinds of very complex (usually
small) geometries or highly individualized components. GE has
handling devices that neither damage the sheets nor pollute announced to produce 40,000 parts per year by additive
them with any additional materials [36]. The integration of manufacturing starting in 2018 [41]. In the future, material
patches with metal inserts enables a multi-material mix models are required in order to simulate the process and
and mechanical joining such as screwing or welding. Again, increase the overall understanding of the process. Multi-
re-manufacturing and recycling become more and more impor- chamber systems, hybrid automats with integrated cutting tools
tant for separating the different materials of the car body, e.g. by and in-process quality inspection are not only key research
thermal treatment in pyrolytic processes or by mechanical fields, but also lead to an ongoing increase in the build-up rate.
processes. Moreover, the carbon footprint from cradle to grave The key approach to an application in series production
has to be concerned when talking about composites. A revolu- involves an integrated view of new designs, knowledge of
tion in CFRP might be possible by alternative (e.g. lignin- material behavior and increased process technologies (Figure 4).
based) pre-cursors [34]. A ‘‘simple’’ substitution of process technologies used for exist-
From 2020–2025 onwards, multi-material-designs, proba- ing parts, however, is not promising at all. On the one hand, the
bly based on improved metallic structures (but also compare potential of a new paradigm ‘‘Manufacturing for Functionality’’
‘‘Multimaterial Space Frame’’ by Audi), could be used to be (compare [42]), which enables new function integrated parts,
enriched with an intelligent mix of highly specialized automo- must replace the restrictive philosophy of ‘‘Design for Manu-
tive steels, Al, Mg, thermoplastics and maybe organic sheets as facturing’’. This means that for the first time, designers are
well as CFRP, GFRP. The long-term goal might be a function- not confined by manufacturing restrictions in terms of reacting
integrated and system-oriented lightweight design like the one to the customers’ requirements. On the other hand, the whole
demonstrated in the project InEcoÓ [37]. One of the most value chain from design to assembly can be shortened, for
ambitious approaches in the market can be seen by BMW example by using SLM-automats or 3D-printers closer to or
AG with the latest concepts for BMW i3 and i8 as well as even in final assembly lines, in order to produce the parts ‘‘just
the innovative Joint Venture SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers in time’’ and ‘‘right there’’. Moreover, additive manufacturing
(ACF) between SGL Group and BMW Group. A very compre- can be used to fabricate innovative new materials with defined
hensive roadmap on lightweight approaches was presented by microstructural patterns [43]. Although the technology has
the Automotive Council UK [38]. revolutionary potential, substantial work needs to be done
regarding the ‘‘improved performance in terms of power, beam
2.4. Additive manufacturing properties, efficiency, and size, as well as better spatial & tem-
poral control and stability – and all at lower cost’’ [40]. Roland
Today, additive manufacturing as ‘‘production on demand’’ Berger expects tremendous improvements in built-up rates until
is widely used in rapid prototyping, tooling, surface coating and 2018 [44]. The ‘‘National Additive Manufacturing Innovation
producing or repairing dies. Mortara et al. [39] has presented a Institute (NAMII)’’ in the US [45] was founded and is funded
comprehensive classification of additive manufacturing technol- to strengthen additive manufacturing technologies. NAMII
ogies e.g. by types of energy or used materials. Using laser is established an ‘‘Innovation Factory’’ in Youngstown, Ohio.
currently one of the most common approaches for working At the same time huge initiatives have been started in Europe
on metal powders in the automotive area. The market of such (especially in UK and Germany) while China has probably
photonic technologies is expected to grow significantly until the largest amount of papers published on the SLM technology
2015 [40]. Additive manufacturing has not been used for com- (compare SCOPUS). [46] and [47] have provided com-
ponents in series production of cars. However, applications of prehensive roadmaps on digital- and direct-manufacturing
selective laser melting (SLM) in the aerospace industry show technologies.
 S. Peters et al.: Manufacturing Rev. 2014, 1, 10 5

2.5. Flexible manufacturing of body in white

In this context, flexible manufacturing (FM) is, in its

essence, the capability of making different vehicles on the same
line without long delays due to tool change. The key technolo-
gies of FM for body in white are extensive use of robots and
supervisory computers. Cooperating robots are one of the major
innovations in automation during the last years. Today cooper-
ating multi-axes robots can be controlled in real-time during
handling processes of whole body in whites. No work men
are needed to finish a body in white, starting from the coil.
Usually the body in white production comes before the order
penetration point, where parts are adjusted to the customers’ Figure 5. Development focuses on mixed vehicle lines. Core
requirements. Consequently, frames are not named to a specific technologies are robots with flexible tools, internet-based control
customer in terms of a push production. Those highly efficient systems and context-sensible handling/joining devices. (Picture:
systems of today will have to become more flexible in variants Ford)
and materials, as customers expect more individualization.
However, modern welding guns and positioning devices usu- are likely to replace RFID, as they use a wireless internet
ally depend on a pre-defined, single geometry and the designed connection to coordinate their needs with the production equip-
opening spaces of the frames are very limited. To this aim, a ment. Future body in white constructions will mix the best
promising welding technology to ensure the required flexibility materials available for each requirement in a lifetime of a car.
level, also reducing energy consumption ( 30%), tooling Therefore, joining technologies of tomorrow (see Figure 3)
requirements and processing times (20% of spot welding), is are needed [50]. The overall goal will remain to create all
represented by Remote Laser Welding (RLW). By having laser bodies of one car platform on one automated line.
optics embedded into the robot and a scanning mirror head as
the end-effector, RLW can easily create joints in different loca-
tions of the product through simple robot repositioning and 2.6. Autonomous final assembly
laser beam redirection from a remote distance (e.g. 0.898–
1.22 m from last mirror to the welding target). Volkswagen Today, final assembly lines in automotive series production
has been playing a pioneering role in RLW area. The German are characterized by dozens of well-defined work places rowing
automaker has been progressively introducing robot-guided up in one fixed route. Each station has a fixed work program
YAG laser welding to its body shops over the past years and and a more or less fixed number of employees which can be
has adopted an innovative hybrid welding process combining smoothed by the so called ‘‘drifting’’ of single workers [51].
laser and arc welding for door assembly. As much as 75% of The cars move along the lines and are assembled in a strict
body in white has been welded by this technology e.g. for sequence at the stations. The material is delivered to the stations
Golf [48]. in the order of processing. There are several mixed lines, e.g. in
However, it is already possible to make completely different Dingolfing, BMW manufactures the 5-, 6- and 7-series and
vehicles on the same line without delays due to vehicle change. their derivatives on one final assembly line. Today, robots are
For example, in the Toluca plant, Chrysler can manufacture the only used very little and only in fixed positions and for specific
PT Cruiser and Dodge Journey interchangeably although they tasks in final assemblies.
share only a few parts through FM systems. In the body shop The next generation of automotive assembly lines
of Ford, the sheet metal is assembled to form the vehicle’s body, could be influenced by the latest research results (Figure 6) in
yet more than 80% of the tooling is not model-specific. It can human-machine collaboration: lightweight robots and humans
be reprogrammed to weld a car, truck or crossover of similar work together to combine their ‘‘individual’’ performance to
size. GM has announced to invest $250 million in Flexible achieve the best results for the product. Digital ‘‘poka yoke’’
Manufacturing in the Ingersoll Plant. Furthermore, it is reported avoids any mistakes in the assembly by instantly checking
that ABB provides a complete body in white welding line to the matching IDs via wireless internet. Approaches of aug-
Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Company’s (CFMA) new mented reality will change the required profiles of workers
factory in Chongqing. The welding line uses ABB’s FlexLean and support the increasing complexity and variety of variants.
Technology, with ABB’s patented FlexTrack and FlexLifter as a Within the next couple of years, these current fields of research
flexible conveying system. The advanced flexible solution seem to be on their way into series production, with the next
allows the production of different car models on the same line generation of lightweight and sensitive robots as well as
and will help the manufacturer to improve productivity by 15%. cyber-physical systems.
New context-sensible handling devices adapting to the real Self-moving chassis [52] could revolutionize the conven-
geometry are needed in the future to create a defined position in tional fixed routes, as they enable different work packages
flexible production e.g. for welding or clueing (Figure 5). First for different orders. This of course has a high impact on the
steps towards context-sensibility have been discussed for years layout and can therefore only be introduced with a new model.
now, focusing on the usage of RFID tags in product compo- The processes of logistics, the just-in-time delivery and the
nents [49]. As a next step, so called cyber-physical systems sequence of material are highly dependent on a forecast, which
6 S. Peters et al.: Manufacturing Rev. 2014, 1, 10

Remanufacturing is defined as ‘‘an industrial process to

recover value from the used and degraded products by
re-instating them to ‘‘like-new’’ condition through components
replacement or reprocessing’’ [56]. It recaptures the value of the
durable components, as well as some fraction of the original
manufactured value. The process of product remanufacturing
is usually less expensive than producing a brand new unit,
because modules and components can be reused and thus avoid
the need to procure new components from suppliers [57].
In fact, the cost of remanufacturing can be between 45% and
65% less than the manufacturing cost. Moreover, the
willingness to pay for a remanufactured product is only
between 9.7% and 15.3% lower than for a same new product.
Furthermore, remanufacturing processes use 20–25% of the
energy needed to manufacture the same product.
Figure 6. Development focuses on flexible sequencing/scheduling, The importance of remanufacturing of automotive products
flexible speed of assembly lines and just-in-time material flow. Core is increased by emerging ‘‘Green’’ responsibilities for, and
technologies are human-machine collaboration and advanced sen- management of, the end-of-life (EOL) phase. The EU countries,
sors. (Picture: Ford) through diverse directives, are trying to regulate the EOL
processing of automotive parts and components. The remanu-
facturing of products or parts is the most significant in terms
is usually made a few hours before delivery. The loss of a strict of resource conservation and in economic terms primarily in
sequence leads to the necessity of locating the supplier parks in relation to the aftermarket supply.
close proximity of the assembly. Moreover, there is still a need The growing popularity of expensive and sophisticated
for research on autonomous drives for chassis that enable mechatronic products, such as rack & pinion steering gears
flexible routes in the assembly (compare [53]). However, this and electric power steering, together with the rising demand
does not seem to be expected before 2020, although very first for automatic transmissions and diesel engines, is expected to
steps can be seen in modern plants where the engine assembly boost the automotive remanufacturing market to a great extent.
is flexible and free of static ground-based lines. Within a While in 2007 the average was 16 mechatronic modules per
German ‘‘industry on campus’’ – project called ‘‘ARENA vehicle, in 2011 some vehicles incorporate 60–70 mechatronic
2036’’ new concepts for flexible final assembly are developed modules. Less than 10% of mechatronic components are
together with Daimler AG. currently remanufactured. The most common failures for a
Within one decade, a solution with non-fixed, undetermined mechatronic unit are: in connectors, because they are a weak
flow speed might be possible, without reducing the overall out- point in some electronic units for various reasons; in the wiring,
come. All parts would remain in flow by a continuous adaption for mechanical stress and corrosion; and in the power supply.
of the speed and a simultaneous re-scheduling of workloads The failure often consists of a component which can be easily
depending on variants, available employees, technical down- diagnosed and replaced. The ideal core for remanufacturing
times and delivery dates in almost real-time. Parallel pits for should have a high remanufacturability rate and a short life
unusual versions (such as battery electric vehicles) could be cycle, meaning more cores to be collected during the product
used in a kind of by-pass to level the processing times, in order life cycle. For these reasons, the alternators, starters, and brake
to sustain a continuous flow. calipers are remanufactured by almost 10% of companies.
AC compressor is in the category of the most remanufactured
components as well. Other components are also attractive for
2.7. Remanufacturing remanufacturing but not so commonly processed for technical
reasons such as ECUs (Electric Control Units) and transmis-
The remanufacturing industry has a long-standing relation- sion. The emerging technical challenges for automotive mech-
ship with the automotive sector, as vehicle parts and compo- atronic components remanufacturing call for new automated
nents are subject to significant wear and tear and thus require technologies integrating disassembly, reworking and recovery
repairs during their operating life. With the emerging develop- in the same plant. An example of a pilot plant for innovative
ment of electrified vehicles, including hybrid electric vehicles mechatronic de-manufacturing processes is described in [58].
(HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and battery Remanufactured mechatronic products, which come with
electric vehicles (BEV), remanufacturing of expensive traction competitive warranties and low price points, are expected to
batteries and electronic/mechatronic components has been con- become popular aftermarket products in the future.
sidered a sustainable strategy for OEMs. The driving force for Research has shown that remanufactured products sales
incorporating remanufacturing as a business strategy is not only may cannibalize new products sales, however, the sales of
the pressure exerted by environmental legislations, but also the remanufactured products increased the overall market share
economic benefits given the existing salvage technology, in many instances [59]. Due to fast technological advances
reverse supply chains and economic-rational remanufacturing and style changes in the automotive industry, direct market
operations [54, 55]. cannibalization by remanufactured products is no risk,
 S. Peters et al.: Manufacturing Rev. 2014, 1, 10 7

because the remanufactured versions are of an earlier for reuse [62]; however, the composite material must be isolated
generation. effectively through improved recovery strategies and correct
size reduction strategies have to be developed to avoid deterio-
End-of-life vehicles (ELVs) recycling rating the recyclability of the fibers by excessive shredding.
Finally, the development of new techniques for enabling the
The recycling of End-of-Life vehicles (ELVs) is an increas- optimized recycling of components with advanced engineered
ing concern for vehicle manufacturers due to the rising empha- metallic and non-metallic elements will be the basis for deriving
sis on environmental stewardship from customers and within guidelines for new legislations that will govern the end-of-life
companies, increasing material costs and regulations governing treatment of the vehicles of the future, to be collected in the
the future recyclability of vehicles. Moreover, the legislation next 10–15 years.
emphasis towards EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) is
bringing car manufacturers to the forefront of end-of-life activ-
ities. In 2009, over 9 million ELVs constituting over 8 million 2.8. Summary of core technologies
tons of waste were collected in the European Union, according
The automotive industry is probably facing the most critical
to Eurostat. Currently, ELV material recovery rates are in the
challenges in its whole history. Completely new technologies
range of 75–85% [60], but EU legislation, for example, targets
for the powertrain and the body of the car are on their way,
recovery, and re-use rates of 95%, an energy recovery of 10%
new markets in emerging countries prosper and customers’
and a maximum of 5% disposal by vehicle weight by the year
behavior changes rapidly and inhomogeneous. Despite the
2015. Meeting these targets requires both improvements of the
existing new technologies, internal combustion engines
current state of recycling technologies and diligent analysis of
will remain the leading technology for the next decades. Their
recyclability in the design phase of new components and mate-
development has to be focused on including production
rials. The International Dismantling Information System (IDIS)
technologies from efficient casting of new alloys to micro-
was developed by the automotive industry to meet the legal
structured surfaces. Some of the most promising technologies
obligations of the EU End of Life Vehicle (ELV) directive
emphasizing on manufacturing technologies are presented
and has been improved to an information system with vehicle
(see Figure 7).
manufacturer compiled information for treatment operators to
To manage the changes and to increase the effects of high
promote the environmental treatment of End-of-Life-Vehicles,
investments in research and development, new alliances and
safely, and economically.
cooperations are designed. Daimler, Ford, and Nissan are work-
Material recovery of vehicles remains focused on ferrous
ing together in the field of fuel cells. BMW works together with
metals, with the recovery of high value non-ferrous metals
SGL Carbon in the production of lightweight car bodies. On the
and relatively low value plastics incorporated as recycling
other hand, synergies between industries have the potential for
demand grows. ELVs are pre-treated by dismantling, which
even more disruptive innovations. Cooperation between auto-
originally served to capture valuable reusable components,
motive and aerospace industries in material and manufacturing
but evolved to include the capture of parts with regulated and
technology clusters can lead to even more new ideas.
toxic materials and to isolate components with high material
In the following, some trends of production management
recycling value, such as catalytic converters. After the vehicles
aspects and factory design are presented, dealing with the outer
are stripped, the hulks are sent to recyclers who shred the
effects of manufacturing.
vehicles. The remainder of the shredded vehicles (ASR –
Automotive Shredded Residue) can be used in trash-to-ash
schemes or is sent to landfill. While ELV regulation and 3. Production management
licensing of dismantlers in the EU serves to ensure that vehicle
recycling captures harmful materials in this process, the recov- 3.1. Near-zero downtime production performance
ery rates of materials from the ELVs and the quality of the
materials recovered is not assured. In particular, market factors, With a large degree of automation, the automotive industry
in both new product manufacturing and End-of-Life processing, needs intelligent machines and maintenance solutions to
and EU regulations may conflict in the areas of light metals achieve higher productivity, improved reliability, greater effi-
recycling and plastics and composites recycling. ciency and complete quality assurance. Most machine mainte-
Advancing beyond the state of the art to achieve higher nance today is either purely reactive (fixing or replacing
recycling rates will require opening traditional ELV recycling equipment after it fails) or blindly proactive (assuming a certain
to new disassembly models and recycling processing tech- level of performance degradation, with no input from the
niques. State of the art plastic separation techniques including machinery itself, and servicing equipment on a routine schedule
optical and spectroscopic techniques have difficulty with typical whether service is actually needed or not). Both scenarios are
automotive plastics [61]; however, isolating components with a extremely wasteful.
limited number of known plastic species may make these types The main barriers for predicting health condition/perfor-
of separation more feasible. Composite recycling may also mance of a complex system include: (a) the inability to
benefit from improved disassembly strategies. New techniques anticipate unknown faults particularly for complex engineering
for separating high value carbon fiber, more and more used in systems in which hundreds to thousands of sub-systems
high-tech, high performance automotive applications may interact and contribute to the overall system functionality and
provide an effective way to recapture composite components performance, (b) the inability to sustain system functionality
8 S. Peters et al.: Manufacturing Rev. 2014, 1, 10

Figure 7. Summary of current trends and possible roads to achieve future goals.

and performance in the presence of system anomalies and

severe disturbances, especially when the system operates under
varying conditions, and (c) the inability of self-adjusting system
configurations to mitigate internal faults and/or external intru-
sions to achieve survivability.
To meet these challenges, automotive factories need to go
beyond ‘‘predictive maintenance’’ to intelligent ‘‘prognostics’’
– the process of pinpointing exactly which components of a
machine are likely to fail and when to trigger service and to
order spare parts autonomously. When smart products and
machines are networked and remotely monitored and when
their data is modeled and continually analyzed with sophisti-
cated systems, it is possible to reach intelligent ‘‘prognostics’’.
Figure 8 shows the unmet needs of future intelligent mainte-
nance systems (IMS). IMS focuses on developing advanced
degradation modeling and prediction as well as informatics
tools for decision support systems.
The economic benefit of intelligent manufacturing and
maintenance systems has to be measured in order to enable Figure 8. Needs and future trends for intelligent manufacturing and
an optimization of internal and external services [63]. In order maintenance systems.
to help the automotive industry build smart factories with near-
zero downtime performance, research is needed to create a sys- systems with near-zero breakdown performance [64]. The
tematic body of knowledge in intelligent maintenance systems potential research areas for near-zero downtime production
and ultimately to impact next-generation product and service systems are listed as follows.
 S. Peters et al.: Manufacturing Rev. 2014, 1, 10 9

3.1.1. Machine immune systems continuous improvement processes, team work or andon
boards. Especially in series production (starting from the auto-
Machine Immune System is a new design and system motive industry) lean has been established quite well. However,
methodology that unleashes enormous potential for high its adaptation to smaller production facilities with a very high
performance and cost-effective automotive production systems. variance of products is still a crucial point in research [68].
An engineering immune machine/system can monitor and diag- The current national initiative in Germany called ‘‘Industrie
nose itself, and if any kinds of failure or degradation happen, 4.0’’ [69, 70] or the Digital Manufacturing & Design Innova-
it can still maintain its functions for a while. In order to fulfill tion (DMDII) Institute in the US [71] are working on the inte-
the machine immune function, intelligence is added to the gration of advanced solutions of modern information and
machine, making it clever enough for functional maintenance. communication technology (ICT) in production processes,
equipment, factories, and supply chains. For the methodological
3.1.2. Decision support tools – predictive maintenance side of lean, advances in ICT can help to reach new potentials
planning and service optimization application e.g. by using partially automated value stream maps by conse-
quent tracking of workpieces and carriers. Decentralized deci-
Design, control and management of maintenance activities sion making and dynamic adjustments of kanbans might help
in large production systems boost their productivities and to increase flexibility and resilience of lean production systems.
increase their reliability and responsiveness to changing opera-
tions [65]. The intelligent decision support tools – as part of the
solutions for tomorrow’s vehicle production strategy – have the 3.3. Global production networks
following several important issues that need to be addressed: Value creation has become a globally distributed task.
They include (1) assessment of the impact of a machine Using the best available production factors (e.g. to reduce labor
breakdown on the factory throughput, (2) prioritization of main- and energy costs) as well as being close to the market (and in
tenance tasks, (3) analysis of critical machine downtime effects, doing so, avoiding local-content penalties) are the most impor-
(4) identification of preventive maintenance opportunities, and tant reasons for going abroad. During the economic crisis in the
(5) resource allocation (e.g. maintenance crews) on the critical US and the EU, the Chinese market acts as an anchor of stabil-
sections of the systems [66]. Moreover, advanced decision ization. On the other hand, a crisis in one country can lead to
support systems for the automotive industry should be based turbulences in the supply chains, affecting all partners around
on integrated maintenance, production logistics and quality the world. Consequently, the design and management of agile
models to find the right balance between conflicting production networks which share information and risk become of crucial
objectives [67]. Future smart factories should leverage the importance [72].
maintenance intelligence to predict, prioritize, and plan the The task for future research is the development of a holistic
actions to achieve the ‘‘every action correct’’ objective. theory of global production, which enables science and industry
to better understand and control global distributed production.
3.1.3. Embedded and networked prognostics systems – There has to be a fusion of (existing) approaches to plan and
reconfigurable customizable platform control global production networks and production and
operations management. Quality issues, problems in logistics,
To enable a production system with a self-maintenance and suppliers’ performance or internal and external barriers (e.g.
self-prognostics function, there are customized prognostics local-content or emission regulations) can erode expected ben-
including embedded sensor systems with energy harvest capa- efits of a global production strategy. So far, science is not able
bilities, virtual models for augmented component life estimation to understand all interlinkages and influencing factors, which
(e.g. virtual bearings), and system reliability management. makes a sustainable optimization difficult. It can be stated that
Collaborative efforts are required to explore new strategic areas, the importance of global production networks has increased in a
including self-maintenance systems, resilient systems and engi- way and speed that scientific methods and theories fail to follow
neering immune systems. These new frontier efforts will lead to so far. The challenges on the way to a comprehensive under-
new transformational technologies in making future engineer- standing of global production can be arranged in four levels:
ing systems with predictive and preventive capabilities that production network, production system, production process
avoid potential issues. (manufacturing technology) and the product itself. Based on a
simultaneous engineering approach between product develop-
3.2. Advanced lean production ment and production process description, the overall structure
of a production line or whole factory at a certain location is
Lean Production has been playing a role of overwhelming determined and its performance analyzed, which affects site
importance in production science for decades now – starting selection and requires the assessment of the interaction with
with Toyota back in the 1940s and its worldwide spread in the surrounding network. When it comes to the above discussed
the last 20 years. Lean addresses two sides today – on the enabling core technologies (such as battery production for elec-
one hand it is a philosophy focusing on participation and moti- tric mobility and lightweight construction), this cycle is even
vation of employees but providing well-defined methods and more important. For high-wage countries in Europe it will be
approaches on the other hand. Some of the most crucial meth- of crucial importance to perform better than others in enabling
ods are just-in-time or just-in-sequence delivery, poka-yoke, new technologies, and in doing so the competition between
10 S. Peters et al.: Manufacturing Rev. 2014, 1, 10

Figure 9. Summary of current trends in outer effects of production.

companies will be a competition between their production net- This paper presents a review on recent developments in
works. For the headquarters, usually in high wage countries, industry and science with a focus on manufacturing technolo-
this means to use the internal competition to push innovations gies as well as organizational issues in automotive industry.
in product and production technology simultaneously and stea- Moreover, it presents potential trends. However, it must be sta-
dily – for instance by creating a role-model (so called lead ted that the paper of course is limited to subjective extrapolation
plants) for the production of the latest product technologies with done by the authors. Moreover, key technologies such as aero-
the latest manufacturing technologies, which is rolled out in all dynamics or (partially) autonomous driving and innovative sen-
other countries again and again. sors are not observed – also they might have impacts on
The automotive industry has changed from a ‘‘one-factory- production as well.
for-the-world’’ to a ‘‘hub-and-spoke-approach’’ and holds on
for the next step in becoming a real partnership-based network.
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Cite this article as: Peters S, Lanza G, Ni J, Xiaoning J, Pei-Yun Y & Colledani M: Automotive manufacturing technologies – an
international viewpoint. Manufacturing Rev. 2014, 1, 10.