22.05.2024
Gestamp, the multinational specialized in the design, development, and manufacture of highly engineered metal components for the automotive industry, is showcasing its products and innovations at the Automotive Engineering Exposition 2024 Yokohama. The company thus demonstrates its high innovation and engineering capabilities in the automotive market with a new family of products (Gigastamping), accompanying Japanese OEMs in their transition towards a new era of mobility and their path to electrification. And for the first time in Asia, Gestamp is showing during the three-day event in Yokohama, a new rear body solution, the One Piece Rear Frame part, a safer and lighter for the EV architecture.
Gestamp, which has been operating in Japan for over a decade, has a relevant position in this Japanese automotive market, in line with its strategic objective of becoming a key technological partner. Throughout this period, the company has achieved significant milestones in Japan, beginning with its initial forays in 2009. These include joint development activities, the introduction of guest engineers into Japanese OEM design departments, an alliance with Mitsui & Co, LTD, the opening of the R&D center in Tokyo in 2017, and the recent expansion of the production plant in Matsusaka, originally opened in 2018.
The company's outstanding positioning in Japan has been possible thanks to the business strategy, high-performance engineered technological solutions, and cutting-edge automotive components that respond to the needs of Japanese manufacturers. The establishment of trusting, long-term relationships with local OEMs, along with an innovation strategy that co-develops solutions hand in hand with customers to meet their needs, is key.
Innovation: Driving the future of mobility
Gestamp innovates to help manufacturers produce more sustainable and safer vehicles. Its proprietary technologies and innovation capabilities allow Gestamp to produce lighter components that help reduce the CO2 footprint and, in the case of electric vehicles, allow increasing autonomy. In addition, these proprietary capabilities allow optimising the use of raw materials, which translates into a direct reduction of CO2 emissions.
To this end, the company´s R&D centers are key. Gestamp amounts to 13 worldwide, one of them located in Tokyo and works globally and collaboratively to offer solutions to Japanese OEMs. From the conceptualisation phase, co-designs and then co-develops with its customers the best solutions in which it applies its knowledge of innovation, technology, and manufacturing to offer technically and economically viable products.
At Gestamp we are ready with crucial innovations to define the new EV architecture accepting the challenges of design and production with new solutions to achieve the requirements of safety and lightness. In line with our innovative ethos, we have developed a new family of products, Gigastamping, a solution of high-engineered bigger parts, that integrate by overlap technology in one piece the production of fully assembled components, that meet the highest standards in the areas of quality, safety, lightweight, cost efficiency, and sustainability.
BiW, Chassis and Mechanisms
In the BiW area, Gestamp has designed a new family of products that, thanks to the use of proprietary technologies, allows the integration of functionalities in a single part: Gigastamping. This new family of products helps car manufacturers to reduce their internal car assembly times, lightens the component by up to 15%, and optimises the use of raw materials. In Yokohama, Gestamp is showing selected parts such as Double Door Ring or One Piece Floor, which offer a unique combination of increased crash and safety, lightweight, and CO2 reduction in a single product.
And in line with these products, Gestamp is showing for the first time in Asia, a new safer, and lighter solution for the new EV architecture: One Piece Rear Frame. This solution offers the integration of the entire rear section into a single piece using hot stamping technology.
In addition, the new EV architecture implies a change in the functions of the Chassis, a key component of Gestamp's product portfolio. It is now not only important for driving stability and comfort but is also vital because it supports the engine and becomes important in the event of a crash. Gestamp's technological solutions propose a revolution in the design, development, and production systems of new chassis. Gestamp is a leader in the technologies of hot stamping, hydroforming, etc.) ensuring the strength and lightness of these components and continuously innovate to stay at the forefront in applying the most suitable materials to provide the best solution in the new EV architecture.
The array of products of Gestamp Chassis shown in Yokohama offer optimal performance and safety requirements while minimizing weight and with the lowest possible CO2 impact. A good example is the application for Front Lower Arm, made in a single shell in which CO2 emissions can be reduced by up to 15 %.
As for Mechanisms, the technological solutions presented by Edscha Gestamp focus on innovative hinge systems and door checks. The company is showing hood hinges for active pedestrian protection and module drives for fully automated opening and closing of rear lids and liftgates from its Mechatronics products.
Commitment to sustainability and decarbonization
Gestamp contributes to the decarbonization of mobility and industry through the design, development, and manufacturing of more sustainable products, technologies, and production models. The road to neutrality is an opportunity to improve Gestamp's processes, as well as its constant pursuit of operational excellence, thus reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.
Regarding Scope 3, the company is firmly committed to continuing to work towards increasing the circularity of all its materials, resources, and processes, in order to be a key player in the decarbonization of its raw materials.