LIGHTWEIGHT CONSTRUCTION GERMANY
Aim to become global leading supplier / Industry associations present position paper / Additional grants requested
A total of 16 organisations and research institutes covering material fields such as plastics, material composites, metal and concrete have compiled a position paper in a bid to promote the interests of the materials industries and lightweight construction technologies in Germany. A large number of those signing the paper come from the plastics and composites landscape – including industry association Composites Germany (Berlin; www.composites-germany.org).
The aim is to make Germany into the world's leading lightweight construction supplier, taking in all the different materials and covering the various industries. This topic is to feature as one of the chief industrial policy and innovation policy topics in the next legislative period.
The plan is to exploit the estimated 70 - 80% savings and improvement potential that has not been tapped to date. The concept of lightweight construction is also to be extended to take in additional aspects, moving beyond the ever-present automotive industry and into other big markets, such as mechanical and plant engineering, electrical engineering, sport and leisure, the environment and energy as well as construction.
According to the associations, it has been the lack of networking and investment that has prevented the "many different technologies available in isolation at a large number of research institutes from achieving a breakthrough to large-scale industrial use." What is needed is not only the establishment of a lightweight construction alliance to take in all the research institutes working in this field, but also additional grant schemes from the EU, the German federal government and the federal states. These are required in order to counter "what, in some cases, are very high investments in North America and Asia."
Those who have signed the paper (including VW as the only auto maker), feel that to maintain and expand lightweight construction competence, it is also necessary to have a sound raw materials basis in place for the key lightweight construction materials – and this is something that also includes plastics.
The aim is to make Germany into the world's leading lightweight construction supplier, taking in all the different materials and covering the various industries. This topic is to feature as one of the chief industrial policy and innovation policy topics in the next legislative period.
The plan is to exploit the estimated 70 - 80% savings and improvement potential that has not been tapped to date. The concept of lightweight construction is also to be extended to take in additional aspects, moving beyond the ever-present automotive industry and into other big markets, such as mechanical and plant engineering, electrical engineering, sport and leisure, the environment and energy as well as construction.
According to the associations, it has been the lack of networking and investment that has prevented the "many different technologies available in isolation at a large number of research institutes from achieving a breakthrough to large-scale industrial use." What is needed is not only the establishment of a lightweight construction alliance to take in all the research institutes working in this field, but also additional grant schemes from the EU, the German federal government and the federal states. These are required in order to counter "what, in some cases, are very high investments in North America and Asia."
Those who have signed the paper (including VW as the only auto maker), feel that to maintain and expand lightweight construction competence, it is also necessary to have a sound raw materials basis in place for the key lightweight construction materials – and this is something that also includes plastics.
19.07.2017 Plasteurope.com [237366-0]
Published on 19.07.2017
German version of this article...