On the road to success

Conventional auto body sheets (ABS) and body-in-white (BIW) structural components account for around 20% of turnover from the rolling mill. AMAG, however, considers itself a one-stop shop. This means that, in addition to conventional sheets for engine hoods, doors, fenders and so on, it also provides liquid aluminium for engine blocks and recycled cast rims, brazed products for heat exchangers, oil supply units, battery cooling plates and materials for interior and exterior trims. The Ranshofen site can therefore supply materials for just about any automotive application involving aluminium.Against the backdrop of this diversification strategy, which continues to deliver success in the automotive and transportation segment, the company remains focused on the quality of its orders rather than their quantity. It aims to maintain a balanced customer portfolio and thereby ensure economical operation in the interests of healthy business management. This is the only way that AMAG will be able to invest in the future and effect the transition to carbon neutrality, both of which are in its customers’ interests. Even in the early days, some 40 years ago, AMAG identified the potential of scrap separation and recycling. The company’s expertise in recycling, accumulated over decades, is more important now than ever. Thanks to its expertise and array of in-house technologies - such as its laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) systems for aluminium scrap analysis - AMAG is the ideal partner for future uni-scrap and mixed-scrap, closed-loop projects.AMAG’s automotive business is international. In addition to its core market of Europe, AMAG also supplies its products to the USA and Asia, shipping its rolled products directly to OEMs around the world for high-volume automotive manufacturing. This requires profound logistical expertise, which AMAG has built up over the last two decades (see “Logistics at AMAG” on page 38).Thanks to the stability of its shareholder structure and its management team, the strong loyalty of its employees, and its financial independence, AMAG has remained a stable partner throughout the economic turmoil over recent years.

A glimpse in the rear-view mirror

Very few people are likely to be aware of the extent of AMAG’s success in the automotive industry over the last 20 years. But why is that? Well, AMAG’s automotive activities were initially limited to supplying specialty products. Its target markets were Europe and, even then, the USA. The company’s product portfolio comprised thick, heat-treatable sheets for personal protection applications, AMAG TopForm® SPF and thin, heat-treatable coils for heating elements. AMAG can produce heat-treatable alloys across a thickness spectrum of 0.3-0.8 mm with its continuous heat-treatment furnace. This is a unique achievement!

To begin with, the company’s customers were almost exclusively international service centers, classed as Tier 2 suppliers. Even then, however, the company’s in-house plant and equipment enabled it to produce sheets and slit strips in a variety of widths and lengths. This service was - and remains - predominantly of interest to manufacturers of punched and bent parts, which led to a continuous increase in AMAG’s Tier 1 customers. The large-scale investments referenced earlier ultimately opened the door for the company to become a dependable partner to OEMs.The new cold rolling mill, including the third continuous heat-treatment furnace complete with passivation plant, can accommodate a technical width of 2,400 mm. As a result, all doors, side panel frames, double-axle fenders and even wide covers (such as engine hoods and trunk lids) can now be manufactured cost-effectively in Ranshofen, in the most advanced rolling mill in the Western world.AMAG’s first OEM partner was a premium automotive brand: Audi. This partnership has grown steadily ever since. A key reason for this is that AMAG is also an exceptionally innovative manufacturer of specialty products. Past issues of AluReport have illustrated in detail the ongoing efforts to develop new products and refine AMAG’s automotive portfolio. From AMAG TopForm® SPF to the latest response to our customers’ current challenges in the form of CO₂-optimized AL4®ever products and novel CrossAlloy® technology, evidence of AMAG’s distinctive culture of innovation is not hard to find. Physical characteristics such as breaking elongation, high strength, durability (aging guarantees > 6 months) and improved adhesion and corrosion resistance play a consistently important role.

New trends and challenges in the automotive industry

This ability to innovate is particularly significant against the backdrop of fast-paced changes in the automotive industry, which have seen demand for aluminium rise consistently. AMAG produces the full spectrum of aluminium alloys (i.e. 1xxx to 8xxx) at its Ranshofen site. Thanks to this comprehensive portfolio of alloys and the company’s material development and testing facility, the Center for Material Innovation (CMI), AMAG is now a renowned development partner and offers its customers practical support and advice. In the past, for example, AMAG has offered its extensive expertise in materials and processes to help a number of its OEM customers take their first steps in large-scale industrial aluminium processing as a means of replacing steel components with aluminium alternatives.  Where automotive development once focused on lightweight construction in order to reduce the weight of vehicles with the aim of achieving faster acceleration or reducing fuel consumption for economic reasons, the foremost consideration today is optimizing vehicles’ carbon footprint. The many OEMs and even more numerous metal punching and processing companies have all formulated their own environmental requirements, creating a veritable cornucopia of expectations - which AMAG’s portfolio of sustainable products is tasked with meeting. A common denominator in such specifications is the need to shrink carbon footprints. This is why, two years ago, AMAG took the decision to become the first rolling mill to launch a product line with optimized CO₂ figures. By offering these AL4®ever products, AMAG hopes to help its customers to reach their environmental targets. This makes AL4®ever yet another pioneering achievement. In fact, it follows on from a milestone in sustainable product development set in 2012, when AMAG worked with Mercedes-Benz to develop an alloy with a carbon footprint of less than 1 ton of CO₂ per ton of aluminium* and use it for the trunk pan in the Mercedes SL (see AluReport 02/2012, p. 10-11). The optimized carbon footprint of AL4®ever products is confirmed by independent third parties (e.g. TÜV certificates). In the automotive segment, the AL4®ever portfolio includes structural and bodywork parts, battery box components (see “Aluminium brazing” on page 24) and cast alloys with a high recyclate content, such as AMAG AlSi7.Rec.