CBI Spring 2010 p8-9:CBI Summer 03 p4-5 a
15/3/10
14:37
Page 2
MANUFACTURING
SPRING 2010
inBusiness9
Premium Vehicle Centres of Excellence at WMG
A NEW Centre of Excellence, based in WMG at the
University of Warwick, has been developed to give
regional industry access to state-of-the-art product
development technologies. Part funded by the
European Regional Development Fund and
Advantage West Midlands, the Premium Vehicle
Customer Interface Technologies (PVCIT) Centre of
Excellence will create a unique research and
development facility for the West Midlands
automotive industry, providing access to the latest
product evaluation technologies and processes,
and the expertise to utilise these technologies and
identify appropriate solutions to real world
engineering problems.
One field in which the Centre has invested is
advanced measurement technologies. The Centre
offers access to a range of technologies for
geometric measurement focusing on automotive
applications. From the high accuracy twin column
CNC coordinate measuring machine, through
portable laser scanning systems, to the latest
industrial CT scanner technology, the researchers
have the ability to capture external and internal
geometrical data with typical accuracies ranging
from 100 to sub-10µm.
The industrial CT scanner in particular
demonstrates how the Centre is taking new
developments in technology (in this case the ability
to use X-ray imaging to measure to accuracies in
the region of 5µm) and applying them across a
range of industrial applications. Whilst X-ray
technology was being developed over a century
– Focus on measurement technologies
ago, computed tomography (CT) which takes a
number of X-rays as the sample is rotated through
360° in order to build a three-dimensional
representation, has only recently been used outside
the medical profession. Today, however, CT
technology is being used for non-destructive quality
control of products such as circuit boards and
turbine blades, but its use in the automotive industry
has so far been limited predominantly to niche
applications such as F1 motorsport.
The Centre has already begun investigating the
application of the CT scanning technology for the
inspection of weld integrity, foam porosity and
consistency, and electro-mechanical switchgear, in
conjunction with the project’s industrial partners.
One of the key advantages of the system installed
at WMG is the range of output formats that can be
created from the captured data. These include
conventional dimensioned measurement reports,
three-dimensional representations of internal
features, and video clips showing a slice-by-slice
reconstruction of the sample.
With further technologies available within the
Centre, including a high resolution stereoscopic
visualisation wall, the ability to visualise the outputs
from the CT scanner and other measurement
technologies, in either two or three dimensions, is
also well catered for.
The facility opened in March.
TWO MILLIONTH ENGINE
PRODUCED AT BMW HAMS HALL
A FOUR-CYLINDER 2.0L petrol engine was
the two millionth power unit to be built since
production commenced nine years ago at the
BMW engine production plant in Hams Hall,
North Warwickshire.
The engine will be transported to the
Regensburg vehicle plant in Germany, built to
order and ultimately destined for a British
customer purchasing a 318i Saloon - the UK’s
best selling BMW model.
Coinciding with the celebration of this key
milestone was a visit from Harald Krüger,
member of the board of management of BMW
AG for Human Resources and Industrial
Relations, and the former plant director of the
Hams Hall production facility.
“To reach two million engines is a fantastic
achievement,” said Krüger. “The Hams Hall plant
is our centre of competence for the production of
four-cylinder petrol engines within the BMW
Group and is a credit to the skill, flexibility,
commitment and motivation of the Hams Hall
workforce.”
The plant was the result of a £400 million
investment and volume production commenced
in 2001 with four-cylinder petrol engines for BMW
vehicles. Additional investment was made in the
facilities to extend production and a second
family of engines was launched in 2006 to power
the entire range of MINI petrol derivatives.
Last year, in which production at the plant
exceeded 360,000 units, further investment was
made to enable a revised range of MINI petrol
engines to be built, offering the customer even
more power and torque while at the same time
further reducing both emissions and fuel
consumption.
Around 800 associates work at the plant,
ensuring the timely despatch of engines to the
MINI production plant in Oxford and to BMW
vehicle manufacturing plants in Germany, Austria
and South Africa, with the latest model to take
the highly fuel-efficient engines being the
recently launched BMW X1.
“There is a strong team culture at the plant
and we have a highly skilled and committed
workforce with a wealth of experience,” said
plant director, Mathias Hofmann.
“Our engines are
built to the highest
standards of quality
and delivered to the
vehicle
production
plants in the exact
sequence they are
required.
“Everybody at the
plant is proud of
reaching this major
milestone and to be
building engines that
power both BMW and
MINI vehicles sold
across the world.”
www.bmw.co.uk
CT scanning technology
For more information,
please contact the Project Manager,
Alex Attridge,
at a.attridge@warwick.ac.uk