New American Plastics Council Auto Center Home to Innovative Design
15 October 1998
New American Plastics Council Automotive Center Home to Innovative Design
APC Facility Demonstrates How Plastic is Automotive Material
of the New Millennium
DETROIT, Oct. 15 -- Today, the American Plastics Council
(APC) dedicated their new Automotive Center in Troy, Michigan. The 6,200
square foot multi-use facility, located at 1800 Crooks Road, is a technical
center devoted to encouraging creative uses of plastics in automotive
applications. During the dedication ceremony, APC President and CEO Ron Yocum
said, "We have a Center here in the heart of the global automotive community
because we want out members' customers to get the answers they need when
considering how plastics can meet a particular design challenge. The Center
is here to help our members build on past successes in the competitive
automotive applications market. And, it's our goal to establish plastics as
the automotive material of choice for the future," Yocum said.
"As representatives of the resin manufacturing industry, we want to have
the opportunity to explain how plastics deliver weight savings, design
flexibility, durability, parts reduction, and superior overall performance at
a low cost," Yocum said. "APC created the Automotive Center to encourage the
automotive design community to continue to keep an open mind when they specify
materials."
Thirteen APC Automotive Group member companies have information and
product displays in the Troy facility. These displays are an important
element of the facility to the member companies, Automotive Group Chairman,
Bill Windscheif, Director of Sales and Marketing, Automotive Business Group,
Montell USA Inc., said. "It provides us with another way to link members'
companies with OEMs and suppliers. It helps us share technical information
through product displays that highlight our unique resins and their benefits
in automotive applications. We want to show what the family of plastics has
to offer while designers are considering basic engineering questions about
material selection, and make informed decisions that enable them to deliver
the best product possible to their customers," Windscheif said.
Automotive Center Advances Alliance
APC will be working closely with their strategic alliance partner, the
Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), to ensure the Automotive Center is a
place of learning and training, of recognizing excellence and innovation,
Yocum said. The alliance between the two groups was formed in April as a
joint venture to work cooperatively to educate key audiences about the ways
plastics improve our quality of life. The alliance will enable the plastics
industry to be more active, creative, and better able to reach its full
potential in meeting society's needs and work in partnership with OEMs, 1st
Tier suppliers and system integrators. "We want to help their members be
fully informed about the merits of plastics in automotive applications," he
said.
The Center is committed to showing the automotive community how plastics
are the material of innovation. APC's Director of Automotive, Bruce Cundiff
said, "Our continuing education program is designed to help key customer
groups learn what they need to know about plastics."
"A big part of our program is to reach automotive stylists," Cundiff said.
"There's a great opportunity to help them understand the striking design
flexibility and style plastics offer. We'll be working with the Center for
Creative Studies Transportation Design School to hold seminars at the
Automotive Center to share ideas regarding the use of plastics in design."
Information Key to Center's Mission
The automotive community will be able to receive information from the
Automotive Center in a number of ways, Cundiff said. "With today's technology
at our fingertips, we are preparing to provide answers to technical questions
whether someone walks in our door, calls, faxes, or emails. We will be
committed to helping members of the automotive community explore new ways of
thinking about using plastics to enhance automotive performance," he said.
"We're acquiring resources that will include technical information both in
print and on CD-ROM. We'll also have available databases and online search
capabilities to ensure the engineers and automotive students who come to us
for assistance can get what they need."
Three All-Plastic Vehicles On Display
Part of the Center's mission is to provide a forum to present the newest
ways plastics are being used in automobiles today. At the Grand Opening,
three plastics intensive vehicles, the Automotive Design and Composites Baja,
Chrysler Composite Concept Vehicle (CCV), Dodge Intrepid ESX2 were on display.
The Baja is a six-passenger, composite-chassis, sport utility developed by
Automotive Design & Composites, Ltd., intended to go into production for the
West Indies, Central and South America and the Pacific Rim countries. Both
the chassis and body are made of thermoplastic and thermoset materials. It is
also designed with enough strength to meet both United States and European
crash tests.
The thermoplastic molding process is a key factor in making the Chrysler
CCV a lightweight, easy-to-build, affordable car for the emerging markets of
the world. It is a four-piece composite body car that fits together with
adhesive bonds and a few bolts. The unique material and design eliminate the
need for sub-surface steel structures that reinforce other composite-bodied
vehicles.
The Dodge Intrepid ESX2 uses an innovative mix of materials to create a
lightweight vehicle with a pragmatic approach to addressing today's
prohibitive costs of hybrid electric vehicles. Chrysler's computer simulated
crash tests show the lightweight body does not compromise safety. The ESX2
borrows affordable, lightweight thermoplastic technology from the CCV.
Cundiff said, "everything about the Center is intended to show how
plastics can do so much more than people might imagine. These vehicles, and
others in the future, are here because the APC Automotive Center is a forum
for new ideas and ways to use plastics."
To learn more about plastics in automotive applications, visit APC's
automotive web site, http://www.plastics-car.com. Call Denise Bondoni at
248-244-8920 for directions and a calendar of events.
APC is a national trade association working to ensure plastics are a
preferred material by actively demonstrating they are a responsible choice in
a more environmentally conscious world.