U.S. bumper contract for Norway

Svein Tønseth

Hydro Raufoss Automotive, a Norwegian manufacturer of light-metal automotive components, has secured an important contract in the USA. The company's factory in Holland, Michigan, will supply one million aluminium-based bumper beams a year to one of the major American car manufacturers.

So far Hydro is not at liberty to reveal which car company this is.

''Production will start in the summer of 1998. This contract is a very important breakthrough into the American market for Hydro Raufoss'', says Managing Director Arvid Moss at the company's headquarters in Oslo, Norway.

Numerical models

According to Moss, parts of the credit for this breakthrough is due to the efforts of SINTEF researcher Torgeir Welo.

For many years, Welo has been involved in research on extruding and shaping aluminium profiles. On the basis of his insight into the processes involved in shaping aluminium, he has developed numerical models that make it possible to predict whether a given aluminium profile will suffer local deformations when it is bent, and within what tolerances the product can be produced and marketed to the customer.

Using his computer, Welo can simulate 'production trials' of different profiles as well as various bending processes and tools, in order to find out whether the finished product will lie within the tolerances specified by the car manufacturer.

At the moment Welo is on leave from SINTEF in order to work in the Hydro Raufoss factory in Michigan, and the Norwegian company sets great store by his expertise.

"Both Welo's expertise and the computer models he uses are vital to us as development partners for the automotive industry", says Arvid Moss.

Two manufacturers under one roof

Hydro Raufoss Automotive was established in 1997 when the former Hydro Aluminium Automotive bought another Norwegian company; Raufoss Automotive, Europe's largest supplier of aluminium bumper reinforcement beams.

"Our concentration on automotive bumper systems for the U.S. market is based on the experience and theoretical expertise that our staff at Raufoss, Norway have in the fields of toolmaking and production. Combining this expertise with Welo's competence in numerical models is of great interest to us", says Arvid Moss.