Innovative centre for cars of tomorrow

Australian researchers at Deakin University will be at the forefront of the international car industry’s future design and innovation, thanks to a new partnership with global car maker General Motors.

The International Centre for Innovative Manufacturing (ICIM), launched in Geelong on September 16, will be led by Deakin University and General Motors Global Research, focused on developing world-leading innovative and competitive solutions for manufacturers and suppliers into the future.

Deakin’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Lee Astheimer said the new alliance would be set up as a formal organisation with a board and directors.

Members will include Korean steel-maker POSCO and Korean national research laboratories, including the Korean Institute for Industrial Technology and the Korea Institute for Materials Science.

Another Korean company, Sungwoo HiTech, will also be involved, along with US-based commercial software group Livermore Software Technology Corporation and global virtual prototyping company ESI Group.

Professor Astheimer said Deakin was well placed to lead the new partnership as it had already established itself at the forefront of automotive industry research.

“Deakin has been at the forefront of solutions to issues facing the automotive industry across the world, including the simultaneous reduction of cost and carbon emissions,” Professor Astheimer said.

“We already have a number of programs to address these issues, in partnership with the industry and suppliers, so it is really exciting for us to be able to begin this new solution-based partnership with General Motors Global Research.”

The partnership will be driven by researchers with Deakin’s School of Engineering and Institute for Frontier Materials and include members from industry and suppliers.

The ICIM board of directors includes General Motors’ Dr Tom Stoughton as chairman and Deakin’s Professor Jeong Yoon as chief investigator.

Speaking at the launch, Dr Stoughton said that one of the major challenges faced by the automotive and other industries was being able to predict behaviour, such as “spring back,” with next generation steels and aluminium alloys accurately.

“This requires much more elaborate manufacturing processes - and the automotive companies have learnt that we are not going to solve all the problems on our own. We are looking for long-term, robust solutions. ICIM will help us to take advantage of Deakin’s excellent facilities and staff, such as Jeong Yoon.”

Professor Yoon said the centre would develop technology-driven solutions, designed to ensure members produced the most innovative, competitive and capable automotive products in the world.

“The partnership is modelled on the UK’s Sheffield University Boeing Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, which has been invited to collaborate with the new group,” Professor Yoon said.

He said the initial focus of the new centre would be to develop advanced constitutive and failure models, including calibration test procedures, before implementing the models into commercial software.