Aluminum was considered a "precious" metal during the first half of the 19th century due to its relative rarity. At the Paris Exhibition of 1855, a bar of aluminum was exhibited as a marvel. Nowadays, of course, aluminum is common. Yet in some regards, it seems somewhat dear when it comes to applications in North American vehicles, at least if we absent engine blocks and wheels. In fact, when you look at the body applications in the U.S., as compared with the doors, hoods, fenders, and deck lids produced for European manufacturers, the difference is nothing short of astonishing. According to Thomas P. Gannon, vice president, Sales & Marketing, Industrial and Automotive Products, Alcan Aluminum Corp. (Farmington Hills, MI), there are no aluminum doors produced in North America. Meanwhile, over in Europe, aluminum doors are produced for vehicles ranging from the $350,000 Maybach (A) to the $12K VW Lupo. The vehicle manufacturers that are taking advantage of the lightweight material include not only the prestigious brands like Jaguar (B), Aston Martin, Lotus, and Audi, but also the much more accessible ones like smart and Peugeot. In effect, perhaps, the Europeans have gotten over the aluminum bar in the glass case, while U.S. manufacturers, with few exceptions, are still looking at aluminum through the grass. Which is not to say that aluminum isn't being used in significant quantities in North America. It is. According to Gannon, the overall transportation market is the biggest user of aluminum in North America and that the passenger vehicle market is the biggest within transportation, accounting for some 5.3 billion pounds of the stuff. And when cars are looked at from a weight standpoint, aluminum is the third most-used material, following steel and iron. Says Gannon: "It overtook plastic in 2001 by two pounds. We're widening the gap and are just a few pounds away from iron. We'll probably overtake iron by 2007." The steel producers probably shouldn't be inordinately worried, as they tip the scales at around 1,800 lb. in a car, and second place is just a bit more than 300 lb. According to a report by Ducker Worldwide, "Global Automotive Aluminum Content Forecast Through 2010," it is projected that there will be 318 lb. of aluminum used in North American light vehicles by 2010. Gannon says that they're a bit more optimistic at Alcan, thinking that the average is more likely to be on the order of 350 lb. The argument for greater use is based on weight savings and the fact that consumers are apparently looking for vehicles that are (1) full of amenities and (2) large. So, in order to have powered doors, seats, windows, etc., nav systems, third rows of seats (C), and so on, all of which add weight, vehicle manufacturers must find the ways and means to reduce mass elsewhere, which could lead them to select aluminum rather than steel because a rule of thumb is that one pound of aluminum can be used in place of two pounds of steel. Second, there is the size issue. One of the issues with sport utility vehicles is their high center of gravity. Gannon suggests that one way to maintain the size of the vehicle yet to lower the center of gravity is to use aluminum body panels: "You can reduce the weight of your vehicle without sacrificing size or strength." Although aluminum may be lighter, he argues that aluminum handles crash energy quite well, in a predictable manner, so "light" doesn't equate to "flimsy" or "unsafe." One of the considerations that can be made about what is arguably still a premium material (and one that is likely to remain so, at least compared with steel) is retaining its value. Gannon cites a closed-loop recycling process that Alcan has developed with Ford at the Ford Chicago Stamping Plant. There, hoods are stamped, some 1.3 million annually. There is offal. And there is (probably) some scrap. The AA6111 scrap is kept segregated from other materials. It is bundled and shipped to Alcan's Oswego, NY, plant, where it is melted, then rolled back into aluminum sheet. The sheet is then shipped back to chicago Stamping, where it can be transformed into more hoods. The material doesn't degrade, so it is hood-to-hood, not, say, hood-to-engine block (which would be the case, Gannon admits, if other aluminum alloys were mixed in with the AA6111). So the issue here is that there can be value realized by reusing the material. (In Europe, where there is a requirement for the OEMs to handle the recycling of used products, this can help justify aluminum use.) A.) The Maybach 57 has a wheelbase of 133.5 in.; the Maybach 62 has a wheelbase of 150.7 in. The latter is claimed to be the longest production car in the world (total length: 242.5 in.). The doors are a study to aluminum. Not only are the door outers made with aluminum, but so too are other components. The window surrounds are produced with multi-chamber extrusions that are laser welded together. Superplastic forming, which involves both heat (up to 500[degrees]C) and pressure, was used to produce the internal components and the hinge reinforcements. Other aluminum panels on the Maybach body shell are the roof, hood, and front fenders. The overall weight of the body shell of the Maybach 57 is 1,289 lb.; it's 1,368 lb. for the Maybach 62. B.) The XJ8 is an aluminum-intensive vehicle that is apparently the Forerunner for things that Jaguar will be doing as time goes on, such as in producing the XK replacement (the X150). Shown here is the R-06 concept. It has an aluminum chassis. The body combines both aluminum and composite materials. The 21-in. wheels are of course, aluminum, as well. It doesn't, however, have an aluminum engine block. Rather, the V6 diesel (which will be used in the 5-Type mid-2004) has a compacted graphite iron block. C.) Apparently, in order to offset the weight of the third row of seats in the Yukon, GM engineers moved to aluminum for the lift gates for its GMT 830 vehicles. According to Gannon, the stamped aluminum parts are run at the same rate that the steel components had been.

Aluminum parts manufactured with falsified data are flying on Boeing jetliners today and were used extensively across all the company's commercial products, according to a person briefed on the impact to the plane maker. The material is unlikely to cause safety concerns, the person added. But the problem presents a significant headache for the plane maker, which will have to account for all of the suspect aluminum and ensure every component meets regulatory standards. Boeing (BA) acknowledged that it was notified about the issues with the Japanese metals company. Boeing "has been working closely and continuously with our suppliers ... to ensure timely and appropriate action, including comprehensive inspections and analysis throughout our supply chain," a spokesman said in a statement. "Nothing in our review to date leads us to conclude that this issue presents a safety concern," said Boeing. The Kobe Steel scandal has shaken corporate Japan and sparked concern across the global supply chain in aerospace as well as the automotive manufacturing and rail industries. Related: Kobe Steel shares crash again. Can it survive fake data scandal? Kobe Steel has admitted it fabricated data related to the quality and strength of aluminum and copper used in a range of products at hundreds of companies -- from cars to defense equipment and airplanes. The company said it was undertaking a broad investigation into its initial findings. The suspect aluminum has been used to make parts from Japanese manufacturers Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and Subaru, which make major structural portions of Boeing's jets, as well as Nabtesco, which supplies the plane maker with mechanical components called actuators that move the jet's flight controls. A spokesman for Subaru said, "We are still investigating this situation with our supplier base to see which parts contain this steel, and to see if there is any risk posed at all." Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nabtesco did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Kobe Steel is required to submit data attesting to the material properties of the parts it makes for companies that supply parts to Boeing's factories. A portion of material it is building with is set aside for testing. In many cases, data collected in testing didn't pass strength tests and were disregarded, the person briefed on the Boeing findings said. Kobe said in a report released on Friday that "a portion of the inspection items ... was not conducted, and inspection data was rewritten" on its aluminum products. Kobe said the aluminum parts in question were manufactured between September 2016 and August 2017, but Boeing and its suppliers are looking farther back to determine the extent of the impact. Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, manufacturer of the new Mitsubishi Regional Jet, said it affected parts are used on test aircraft it is flying today. Production standard aircraft won't be delivered until 2020. A spokesman for Boeing rival Airbus said it does not use Kobe aluminum on its airliners, but parts of the landing gear on its new A350 XWB is forged from Kobe's titanium. Kobe also supplies non-aluminum parts for engines that fly on many of Airbus's jets. Kobe has not indicated titanium is part of its inquiry into falsified data.

WATERLOO - When Ron Bender told his wife Christine he was thinking of investing in a new anodizing plant next to the machining business they have owned for more than two decades, she was hesitant.
"I just thought, 'Really?' We have 22 years in this. Do we really want to start another business now?" Christine recalls.
But the hesitation didn't last long. In October of last year, the Benders opened KW Anodizing Ltd., located next door to their RJB Machining business in Waterloo.
They realized the anodizing facility was the best way to protect the viability of their machining business, which makes parts for cameras, lasers and other electronics products for high-tech companies in the area.
The new facility has the capacity to do medium-sized anodizing jobs for RJB's customers, as well subcontracted work from other machine shops in the area. It can do black and clear anodizing, as well as yellow and clear chromate coatings on metal.
Anodizing is a process that involves putting aluminum parts into a bath of electrolyte solution and passing an electrical current through it in order to penetrate the metal with a tough, resistant film.
Unlike paint, the film seeps into the metal and gives it a finished look. It's the sleek black metal look you see around the lens of a camera or on smartphones and music players, for example. Parts for the aircraft industry also are anodized because the process gives the metal more durability under stress.
Of course, anodizing is an entirely different kind of business from machining precision parts. It involves chemical solutions, detergents and dyes and big tanks of boiling water. "It was a bit scary because this was a whole different world for us," Ron says.
It was also risky from a business point of view because setting up an anodizing line required an investment of nearly $1 million. And anodizing represents only a fraction, perhaps a tenth, of what the Benders get for a part, which explains why it made sense for them to contract out that work for so many years.
But the stringent requirements of their customers forced them to act. Small anodizing subcontractors might not have the latest technology to satisfy high-tech customers who are extremely picky about the final look and function of their parts.
"This is our niche," says Ron. "Our attention to detail is so high." If even a little bit of oil gets stuck in a tiny hole or corner because a metal part wasn't cleaned properly, the anodized coating might not be uniform, which could mean scrapping a very expensive part, he says.
"A lot of the parts we make, like the camera parts, have very high cosmetic specifications," Christine says.
There are big specialized anodizing plants with the newer equipment in Ontario, but those facilities want high volume, fast production jobs, she says. "They didn't want to have to baby our parts in the way that our parts needed to be babied." The Benders, who employ 66 people at RJB, added almost 8,000 square foot to their main plant on Colby Drive to move some machining equipment from the building they leased next door. The anodizing equipment, including 18 tanks for the water and electrolyte solutions and racks and filtration equipment, were then installed next door.
The anodizing facility was built with the latest in clean air and water filtration equipment. "We were able to take advantage of the latest technologies," Ron says.
One of RJB's employees, Emil Spatar, was promoted as general manager of KW Anodizing. Originally from Romania, Spatar had already proven himself as a hard working employee, with a sharp eye for detail.
Although anodizing was a big learning curve for him, "he knew more about it than most people here and understands the quality behind it and what it has to look like," Ron says. Three people run the anodizing facility.
It took until March to get everything working to the satisfaction of the Benders. "But now we are getting quality that is actually a little better than expected," Ron says. "We are getting the nice, rich colours." The Benders hope to fill the capacity of the 3,300-square-foot facility by getting contracts from other machine shops. "We think there is enough of a market here," Ron says.
Christine, who handles the books for RJB, says the scrap ratio in the machining business is going down because the company does anodizing in-house, "and that helps in saving costs all along the line." Their machines are not making as many parts over again, which frees them up do more. "We have a faster throughput," Ron says.
Manufacturing was in a deep recession in 2009 when the Benders began making the investment in anodizing. "But sometimes, a recession is the best time to start a business," Ron says.
"We really couldn't afford not to do it," Christine now says. "Even after 22 years in business, we are obviously not done, and to keep a business viable, you have to keep moving forward.