Automotive Aluminum Advisors introduced its first Aluminum Body Sheet Course designed to help automakers and their suppliers gain an edge and win with aluminum. The inaugural course will be held on February 11-12, 2020 at the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan.
The two-day course is designed for the continuing education of automakers and their suppliers. Attendees will gain exclusive insight and practical knowledge into various aspects of aluminum body sheet including alloys and applications (5xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx), forming and stamping, advanced welding technologies and supply chain considerations.
The course will be led by several of Automotive Aluminum Advisors’ experts who led automotive alloy development, metals manufacturing, stamping process technology, advanced welding research, body sheet sales, and numerous automotive launches as former leaders at Alcoa, Aleris, Arconic, General Motors, Reynolds Metals, and Westinghouse. These experts also have decades of experience developing and providing intra-company and customer training courses, as well as having taught undergraduate and graduate level classes at Carnegie Mellon, Penn State, Johns Hopkins, and Loyola Universities.
“From pioneering aluminum spaceframe technology with Audi and Ferrari to helping launch the all-aluminum F-150 and many other programs, our experts have accumulated a vast body of knowledge and experience that can’t be easily replicated,” said Nate Beavers, Founder and President of Automotive Aluminum Advisors. “We’re excited to share that wealth of knowledge accumulated over a half century to support the automotive industry’s continued shift to lighter weight structures and increased use of aluminum.”
This training course is designed to provide practical metallurgical, manufacturing, purchasing, and supply chain learnings for attendees, including the knowledge and information needed to effectively introduce aluminum sheet into your manufacturing process. Potential benefits of attending this training course include:
- Practical knowledge to help save time and cost in design and development
- Understanding of the differences between 5xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx alloys
- Insights to make better alloy and product application decisions
- Strategies to effectively utilize aluminum sheet in manufacturing
- Ability to make more informed purchasing and supply chain decisions
Consulting and research firm Ducker Worldwide projects that the use of aluminum in auto body sheet applications will have grown 110% from 2015 baseline levels by 2025. As lightweighting through aluminization continues in automotive and other sectors, it becomes even more critical that those involved with the transition are knowledgeable about the materials over which they now have control.