INDUSTRY & TECHNOLOGY POLICY BOARD
Automotive Applications Division Board Annual Report for 2007
- Board membership
The Board has met regularly over the year but has not been as well attended as hoped. The younger members have proved to be the most enthusiastic and new young members from a growing automotive community are being recruited. Hence the Board is pleased to welcome the following most recent recruits:
Roger walkerProdrive
M.MustafaAston martin
Bob BradleyHonda
Jason RoweLotus
Tony KingTATA Motors
Tom Chatterley, a past chairman, retired as a member of the Board and our thanks were given by all for his support for the Institute.
The Board has rotated its meeting venues and meetings have been held at Lotus(Hethel), WarwickUniversity and Carlton House. Since the members come from different areas of the country, this has spread the travel requirements for the members at the same time as allowing visits to other company facilities.
It is planned that the chairman will stand down at the next meeting in the New Year and the vice chairman, Pat Selwood will assume the chair. It will mean an election of a new vice chairman.
2.Board meetings (2007)
39th Meeting; 9th January 2007 at Carlton House Terrace
Gordon SmithIARC University of Warwick
Tom ChatterleyMIRA and Faraday Advance
Pat SelwoodSMMT Foresight Vehicle
Keith HarrisonSulzer Metco
Jason RoweLotus
Seth MayhewMIRA
Steve HarmerIOM3 Secretary
40th Meeting;8th May 2007 at IARC, WarwickUniversity
Gordon SmithIARCUniversity of Warwick
Pat SelwoodSMMT Foresight Vehicle
Andi ClementsMIRA
Simon BuckinghamFord Premier Automotive Group
Richard BaileyEPSRC
Steve HarmerIOM3 Secretary
41st Meeting;9thOctober 2007 at Lotus, Hethel.
Gordon SmithIARCUniversity of Warwick
Jason RoweLotus
Roger HammondCorus
Andi ClementsMIRA
John KellTWI
Keith HarrisonSulzer Metco
Simon BuckinghamFord Premier Automotive Group
Roger WalkerProdrive
3. Opportunities for growth of Division Community orconstraints
The Board has continued to respond to changes in the automotive industry and is recruiting representatives from the new resident OEMs e.g TATA Motors, the supply industry and more recently the newly formed Technology Strategy Board.
Youth activities in material engineering continue to be supported through the interest in Greenpower. Our Board members attended the Greenpower race final at Goodwood to present the IOM3 Automotive Application award for the lightest vehicle and were delighted with the student interest in materials and their knowledge about them.
4. Technical Programme
It is disappointing to report that there was a minimal technical programme in the previous 12 months. A joint event with Drivenet was cancelled and so too was cancelled a joining conference. Maybe, this heralded the problems of the conferences in persuading delegates to schedule more than a day away from their workplace. The highlight was to bethe Lean Weight conference and much of the year was taken in planning for this event. On a bright note, the Greenpower day was excellent and the Board are proud to have been involved.
5.LeanWeight Vehicle Conference
Our conference on Materials for light Weight Vehicles had to be postponed due to several factors. Late registration is becoming an increasing problem since delegates delay their commitment to the last minute before attendance and the schedule in December added to the difficulties. However, it highlighted the need to reconsider the conference format. There is an increasing difficulty in differentiating between materials and low carbon consequences, hence, it was decided to reorganise the programme in to a one day conference called ‘’Vehicles for the Low Carbon Generation. The success of this format is indicated in that the conference could be sponsored totally and allows for free registration of all delegates whilst including the aspirations of the Automotive Applications division to provide awards to support young engineers.
6.Foresight Chart Development
It is anticipated that the links with Foresight will be further strengthened with the appointment of Pat Selwood (Foresight Vehicle manager) to Chair of the AAB. The Board already has strong representation on the Foresight theme groups of FASMAT, DeMAP and Low Carbon and takes part in the ‘road map’ discussions.
7.Professional Membership
New Members
It has been refreshing to have younger board members bring their enthusiasm and ideas to the meetings. The Board is particularly indebted to Simon Buckingham (Jaguar Landrover) for his efforts in arranging the Jaguar Landrover Masterclass for Congress.
8.Links to Local Groups
The Board supplies support as requested to MPRG, Midlands Plastic and Rubber Group.
9.National & International Linkages
A strong network has been engendered by the KTN Materials which links through Faraday Advance, Powder Matrix, Foresight Vehicle and the Low Carbon group. Our members are involved in all these automotive related materials activities. Through our SMMT links there is representation with CLEPA which has an influence on the European automotive materials programmes. Other IOM3 groups such as Surface Engineering, Light Metals have active participation from members of the AAB.
10.Government Interfaces
The newly formed Technology Strategy Board will be approached to provide a member for our Board. The current links with the DTI Automotive Directorate and the EPSRC materials programme will be maintained although the attendee might change.
11.Publication
The Automotive Application Board has produced articles related to its sponsorship of the Greenpower race (encouraging automotive material engineering in schools).
Materials World is planning a special automotive edition in March and members of the Board have promised articles to support this publication.
Some papers of note to the automotive engineer are selected for publication on the automotive application web site.
12.Awards
The Automotive Applications Division was pleased to continue the award of its Rowbotham medal, which is gaining a reputation in the industry as a prestigious honour. The award went to Mr John Sellors for his workon the Lotus Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) and Aluminium Performance Crossover (APX) vehicle.
Through the success of its conference programme, other awards were made to interest youngsters in materials engineering. There was £1K provided to the Schools Affiliate Scheme to encourage and assist the involvement of more schools. Additionally, there was an award to Greenpower for its activities which not only develops the interest of the young but shows engineering can provide enjoyment and satisfaction.
Appendices
Board Membership List
Gordon SmithIARC, University of Warwick
Pat SelwoodSMMT Foresight Vehicle
Steve Harmer IOM3 Secretary
Andi ClementsMIRA
Simon BuckinghamFord Premier Automotive Group
Keith HarrisonSulzer Metco
Roger HammondCorus
John KellTWI
Jason RoweLotus
Roger WalkerProdrive
Roger Darlington NAMTEC
Gary WallerVisteon
Mark EllisNissan
Bob BradleyHonda
Tony KingTata
M MustafaAston Martin
Martin JarrettALCOA
Alan HarrisonFord
Jon MaytomDTI
Nigel Hoskinson Titanium Information Group
Mike Shergold JaguarLand Rover
Seth MayhewMIRA
Richard BaileyEPSRC
Corresponding Member
Bill BanksUniversity of Strathclyde