GM Adds more Aluminum to Cars with Simple Welds
General Motors has announced that it will be using a lot more aluminum in its vehicles. But instead of spending millions of dollars to retool its assembly lines, GM has come up with a new welding system. This is different from Ford’s strategy, which is to join aluminum parts with industrial adhesive and rivets. Ford has announced the redesign of its 2015 F-150 that will feature more of the light weight material.
GM will be utilizing spot a system that will spot weld aluminum sheets on existing production lines with the same welding guns and robots utilized for steel. GM uses aluminum sheets for hoods, tailgates, and doors.
On the other hand, Ford spent more than $250 million and lost weeks of production in fall when it redesigned its Dearborn, Michigan plant to aluminum from steel for its latest F-150. The company will also make the same conversion at its truck plant in Kansas City, Missouri.
Experts have all agreed that General Motors’ aluminum welding system is an innovation in the manufacturing industry. It is a big leap because no one else has done it before. The company didn’t have to spend a lot of money just like Ford.
According to GM global product head Mark Reuss, GM is not yet committed into manufacturing an aluminum bodied car or truck but decreasing the weight with aluminum is a top priority for them. In the next couple of years, GM will not launch new vehicles that weigh more than their rivals.
GM calls its aluminum welding system as multiring domed electrode. It is now utilized at the company’s Grand River plant in Lansing, Michigan to weld the doors of the 2015 model of its Cadillac CTS. GM also uses the system in Arlington, Texas on the liftgates of the Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV, and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL. It has installed the system to weld aluminum underbody of the Chevrolet Corvette at its Bowling, Kentucky plant.
