Page 44 - MetalForming April 2015

Metalforming Technology
at the Core
of the New F-150
While aluminum gets all of the press when it comes to Ford’s new F-150 pickup, there are many more “firsts” than meet the eye with this groundbreaking platform. Among them: a stamped 12-corner crush horn, a frame constructed of a startling 78-percent high-strength steel, and a cyclonic closed-loop aluminum scrap-segregation and recycling system.
The aluminum-intensive 2015 Ford F-150 has been in the making for several years, including the 2009-vintage Go Fast pro- gram when Ford built four F-150 proto- types—with everything north of the frame made from aluminum. Now, Dearborn Stamping is bringing in four classes of aluminum alloys: two 5000-series alloys, differing in the amount of magnesium they contain, and two 6000-series alloys used for any exposed material.
need to understand and adapt to the unique challenges related to alu- minum—issues such as scrap segre- gation and closed-loop scrap control.”
Those are just a few of the chal- lenges Ford has overcome in turning over an entirely new leaf at its Dear- born, MI, stamping plant, which now has become the centerpiece of the F- 150 supply chain. That facility, a pre- mier producer throughout much of the previous century as part of Ford’s his- toric Rouge complex, underwent a complete overhaul that began in 2012. It’s now dedicated completely to stamping aluminum closures, body- in-white and other components for the F-150, on the backs of five new press lines, two blanking lines, two hydro- forming lines and a new cut-to-length
While Ford is stamping inhouse more than 85 percent of the new F-150 by weight, it increasingly expects to rely on plenty of support from its supply chain—die designers and builders and stampers included. That according to Peter Fried- man, manager of the manufacturing
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
research department at Ford research and advanced engineering.
“Over time, as more and more alu- minum makes its way into vehicles,” Friedman says, “die shops will need to develop expertise in design, engineer- ing and feasibility analysis for working with aluminum. And, tier stampers will
42 MetalForming/April 2015
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