The  (April 25th-27th, 2017, UK) will focus specifically on the latest advancements in materials, including metals, composites and thermoplastics, reliable joining methods & new solutions for lightweighting of structural parts and components, as well as lightweighting that is specific to conventional and electric vehicle ranges.

Our improved 2017 programme will deliver industry-leading expertise into key new areas and will offer unique insight into the strategic and practical considerations to drive quality and cost effectiveness across lightweight vehicle lines.

6 NEW FEATURES FOR 2017:

• MATERIAL SELECTION STRATEGIES & MUTLI MATERIAL ARCHITECTURES: Review practical OEM case studies to understand material selection and implementation philosophies that allowed OEMs to achieve considerable weight and costs savings
• LIGHTWEIGHTING OPPORTUNITIES OF STRUCTURAL PARTS, COMPONENTS, ENGINE AND POWERTRAIN: Explore new materials, weight reduction opportunities and design methodologies driven by the changing vehicle manufacturing landscape
• INNOVATIVE JOINING TECHNOLOGIES: Review new joining methods for metals to composites, metals to metals and plastics to metals to evaluate their high volume feasibility and potential cost savings  
• USE OF COMPOSITES, THERMOPLASTICS, GLASS FIBER AND OTHER NEW MATERIALS FOR WEIGHT REDUCTION: Learn about the manufacturing developments of new material processes to explore areas for their applications in new vehicle models
• LIGHTWEIGHTING FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE RANGES: Explore opportunities for lightweighting across new electric vehicle ranges
• MATERIAL PRODUCTION METHODS: Review developments in material production methods, including injection molding, RTM, high pressure die casting, and others to understand how they drive cost reduction across multi material designs