| ElringKlinger
Karl Schmauder, Member of the Management
Board responsible for OE Sales and the New Business Areas division
What social/economic/technological trends do you think will have the greatest
impact on car design in 2018?
Key trends, that will have significant impacts on the OEMs and
also suppliers, will be the reduction of emissions and consumption.
Environmentally friendly technologies will significantly gain in importance,
social responsibility and sustainability will become key demands when
it comes to car design and parts supply. The optimized internal combustion
engine will still drive more than 90 percent of all vehicles. Alternative
energies as well as alternative propulsion technologies ranging from the
niche electrical cars to fuel-cell hybrid propulsion technology will make
its inroads.
Low-cost cars and suppliers’ parts specifically designed for this
purpose will gain a sizable market share as the demand for individual
mobility in emerging markets such as China and India will thrive.
What technologies will be key in 2018?
The combustion engine will be improved further, for example sensor-controlled
HCCI Technology. The same is true for transmission technology.
In parallel - as of 2015 - we will see the gradual introduction of fuel
cell technology in the propulsion system. We are expecting a reasonable
growth of fuel-cell vehicles in-series starting in big cities. Fuel-cell
driven cars by 2018 could very well have reached a market share of more
than 1 %.
Environmentally friendly technologies will consistently gain share
How will your products and your business sector develop?
Gasketing will become technologically even more demanding. New
requirements with respect to alternative and synthetic fuels come on top
of increasing injection pressure and ignition pressure levels within newly
designed engines.
Emissions reduction and reduction of fuel consumption is also driving
the trend towards downsizing of engines. The average number of cylinders
should decrease over the years to come. Sealing downsized, turbocharged
engines that feature a higher temperature environment as well as increasing
ignition pressure is one of the demanding tasks suppliers have to meet.
In this context heat shielding technology and the combination of sealing
solutions combined with heat shields or sensors will become crucial. We
use to call this “Sealing and Shielding + X”.
Another important trend is the substitution of metal by plastic parts
in the engine as well as in the transmission area. The reduction of weight
directly translates into lower consumption and lower CO2 output. ElringKlinger
has been developing light weight plastic modules for engines such as cam
covers and oil pans as well as plastic housing modules for transmissions
and expects this replacement trend to gain momentum.
Sealing concepts for fuel cells and fuel cell stacks is another interesting
development task for the future. Here ElringKlinger has been working on
precision-stamped and coated sealing frames which are already utilized
in direct methanol fuel cell applications.
Where do you see the big opportunities?
ElringKlinger is focusing on the four core issues in the automotive
industry: reduction of emissions, lowering fuel consumption, alternative
energies and alternative propulsion technologies.
Our existing business among others features cylinder head gaskets, specialty
gaskets for the exhaust tract, light-weight plastic modules, and thermal
shielding solutions and a new diesel particulate filter in development
is well positioned to contribute to resolving them.
Moreover, the trend to use world engines will benefit us as our world
wide production network will be instrumental for acquiring new projects.
The industry drive towards developing fuel-cell technology in the propulsion
system will also be helpful as ElringKlinger provides bipolar plates and
sealing frames as well as other components for fuel cells. When compared
to the combustion engine, value-sold-in will increase substantially in
a fuel cell propelled vehicle.
What skills/specialisms will you need from engineers in 2018?
In addition to the comprising skills required already today, by 2018,
a broad know-how in electrochemistry and physics will be indispensable
and international project management skills will be instrumental.
For companies such as ElringKlinger, that put major efforts in industrializing
new components and technologies, also soft skills such as cross-functional
team management to join hands in commercializing new product developments
are of utmost importance.
Next...
EuroNCAP
Index
|
