The lights in modern cars do more than illuminate dark roads. They’ve become a design signature of many OEMs. Audi started this trend in 2004 with the LED daytime running lights fitted onto the A8, and lighting technology has advanced rapidly since then, making auto lamp mold production a critical part of automotive manufacturing. Today Read more

Conventional, long-life tooling is expensive, which often makes it unfeasible for low-volume production scenarios, which require specialized low-volume tooling. Without innovative thinking, high per-piece part/tooling costs can render even the best designs uncompetitive. Worse yet, new products might not even get to market! So what do you do in a situation that calls for a Read more

In an era when car companies sell some 17 million vehicles a year in the U.S., it seems at first glance that there is little reason for the automotive components industry to explore low-volume manufacturing. The reality is rather different. Niche vehicles and the development of new models drive a constant need for parts produced Read more

When many people think about an automotive prototype, they assume it represents a single step in the validation process between the initial design of the product and the final production run. In actuality, automotive prototyping plays a number of vital roles during the design validation process that culminates in manufacturing. An automotive prototype can be Read more

Multilayer plastic injection molding (sometimes called co-injection molding) involves injecting two resins into one mold at the same time. The core material is surrounded on both sides by the skin material and then simultaneously pushed through the injection gate or nozzle into the mold, creating a three-layer product in the same amount of time it Read more

Electric vehicle batteries have two main problems when it comes to range. First, they can’t yet match the energy density of gasoline, which makes them bigger and bulkier than a gas tank. Second, recharging is slower than filling a gas tank and a bigger battery simply increases the time needed to recharge. (Plus, it also Read more

Today’s pickup truck manufacturers are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to lightweighting. They need to increase fuel efficiency while retaining the power and performance consumers have come to expect from their trusted automotive brands. Moreover, this challenge is not unique to truck OEMs and suppliers. In fact, many current Read more