Category Archives: Auto Parts

Methods for making Aluminum Automotive Parts

Methods for making Aluminum Auto Parts. Every single day, thousands of auto parts are made and produced by different auto companies: Chevrolet, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and more. Many automotive parts are manufactured by net shape to save costs on additional labor and wasted materials. The metal aluminum is often used for car parts or auto parts for they are only a third of the weight of steel parts. Machining holes into the aluminum during production is easier. Indeed, aluminum proved to be the better metal compared to other metals because of its many beneficial properties.

To create aluminum automotive parts, the metal has to first undergo the die casting manufacturing process. First, the aluminum is being liquefied. The liquid metal will then be injected into the molds to take up the shape as dictated by the mold. Around 1,500 PSI to 30,000 PSI is applied, so that the liquid is forced into the mold perfectly. This will ensure accuracy in its dimensions. Afterward, the molds are set aside to cool and once open, the aluminum automotive parts are perfectly finished.

The end result of this method is extraordinarily amazing: accurate dimensions and great surface finish. Parts can be remade with equal standard and consistency each time.

Kinetic Die Casting is a california die casting company that manufactures die cast parts. If you would like more information or request a quote, vist our website:Kinetic Die Casting Company

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Toyota Automotives Recall Highlights Reliance on Suppliers

A safety recall by Toyota of 2.3 million vehicles due to a problem with accelerator pedals made by U.S. firm CTS Corp. has highlighted the Japanese giant’s growing dependency on components that are not made in its factories.

Toyota is famous for its close contacts with suppliers in Japan, where it effectively owns many parts makers, enabling engineers from both sides to be in constant communication over product development.

But as it expanded its production aggressively overseas over the past decade, Toyota has turned to foreign suppliers with which it has looser ties. As a result, some experts say, its legendary quality may have suffered.

“Toyota is obsessed with cost-cutting, halving costs here and there. That has put a big burden on suppliers,” said Zenjiro Imaoka, visiting professor of risk management at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.

“The pressure on suppliers in turn could damage quality control,” said Imaoka, who has authored several books on supply management, including Toyota’s famous “Just-in-time” inventory strategy.

The Toyota group owns dozens of companies in Japan’s industrial and automotive sectors, including a steel company, precision equipment makers, and auto parts producer Denso Corp., itself a Fortune 500-listed company.

But that intimacy with suppliers has become frayed over the years as the carmaker’s appetite for revenue grew and it failed to develop equally strong ties with suppliers overseas, analysts said.

“Toyota’s supply management in Japan was confined to within its group. But in the U.S., relations with suppliers are limited to a contract and there’s a lack of communication and working together in the field,” said Imaoka. “The US is such a lucrative market that Toyota threw away its management strategy, hell-bent on boosting its total market value,” he added.

The Japanese manufacturer declined to say what proportion of a Toyota car is typically made up of components produced by external companies. A car has parts provided by “too many suppliers to count,” said Toyota spokesman Yuta Kaga. He said the accelerator problem did not relate to Toyota’s dependency on suppliers because “each part is inspected for safety before it is built into the car.”

Fierce global competition and a severe global economic downturn have spurred automakers to cut costs, scale down research and development activities and outsource component production, assembly, and sometimes quality testing.

“A carmaker can have tens of thousands of suppliers making things including even the smallest bolt,” said Atsushi Ishii, a supply chain analyst at auto consulting company CSM Worldwide.

“A carmaker like Toyota often designs the general layout and the structure. That’s why it’s crucial to maintain a close relationship with your suppliers. It’s difficult to lay the blame on the supplier if a problem with one part emerges. The issue likely lies more with how it was assembled,” he said.

Analysts said that Toyota’s accelerator problem may have less to do with the pedal itself but more with how it was assembled as part of the car. “Generally speaking, one defective part does not necessarily equate with a defective car,” said SMBC Friend Research auto analyst Shigeru Matsumura. “It could be that the problem emerged when it was put in contact with, for example, an overheated or leaking part,” which may be a reason why quality inspectors failed to spot any defects, he said.

CTS Corp. has said that Toyota accounts for only three percent of its annual sales and stressed that the pedals at the centre of the recall were manufactured based on the Japanese company’s own design specifications.

Its other customers include Honda, Nissan and Ford — which said on Jan. 28 that it was suspending production of a commercial vehicle sold in China that uses a pedal part made by the same supplier.

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Automotive Parts Go Die Casting

Automotive Parts Go Die Casting. Manufacturing of automotive parts has grown as compared to the recent decades. As technology age, outcomes also become more advanced wherein they are now easier to make and have stronger properties.

With the use of aluminum automotive parts, production of economy cars has been very possible. Aluminum is very economic and practical because of the chemical properties that it carries. As we all know, automotive consists of very detailed and small parts wherein precision is very important to ensure that the whole automotive will work. Also, the material to be used should be heat-resistant to withstand the heat that the engine makes. With this, aluminum is perfect because it can be easily shaped into detailed parts. Plastics are also easy to shape because of their elasticity but when it comes to being heat-resistant, they can only withstand certain temperature which is lower than that of aluminum.

Other advantages of using aluminum in automotive parts are the weight, corrosion-resistant, economic, and durable. Due to the abundance of aluminum on earth, acquisition of this material is very easy so it is cheaper as compared to plastic and other materials that are difficult to acquire. Being a corrosion-resistant leads to longer lifespan of the automotive parts which is advisable so that the automotives will also have longer lifespan.

Kinetic Die Casting can manufacture aluminum automobile parts, heat sinks, aerospace parts and much more. If you are looking for aluminum or zinc parts, visit our website Kinetic Die Casting Company

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Intermet Automotive Castings Corp., is liquidating

Intermet Corp., formerly based in Troy Michigan, but now based in Fort Worth, Texas, is liquidating.

The company was once one of the world’s largest independent makers of automotive castings, but has now ceased operations at two Virginia metal-casting plants, its last remaining foundry operations, a company official said.

Operations ended late last month at the Lynchburg Foundry Co. in Lynchburg, Va., and New River Foundry in Radford, Va., said the official, who asked that his name not be used.

In August, the company filed for conversion of its Chapter 11 reorganization into a Chapter 7 liquidation with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the district of Delaware. Intermet was headquartered in Troy since the mid-1990’s after relocating from Atlanta to be closer to its automotive customers. The company then moved its corporate headquarters to Fort Worth in 2006.

Intermet had gone through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004-05. This time the supplier was burning through cash at a rate of $250,000 per day, so it tried to reject contracts, according to Bankruptcy Court documents.

That led to an administrative freeze on the payment of millions of dollars of prepetition receivables from customers such as the Detroit 3, according to the documents.

Said one document: “The cavalier manner in which these debtors have handled ongoing negotiations will likely result in the severance of many — if not all — of these customer relationships, which account for well in excess of 50 percent of [Intermet’s] gross annual revenue.”

Intermet’s Lynchburg factory has operated for more than 100 years. It was manufacturing brake calipers and crankshafts used by the Detroit 3 and Toyota Motor Corp.

Intermet was heavily dependent on the U.S. auto market, particularly SUVs.

The company, with estimated sales of $823 million in 2006, ranked No. 59 on that year’s Automotive News list of the 150 largest suppliers of parts to North American automakers. Intermet was not ranked in the most recent listing, based on 2008 sales.

Kinetic Die Casting makes great quality aluminum, and Zinc Die Casting If looking for a job or would like a quote please visit our website:Kinetic Die Casting Company

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Pressure Die Casting Aluminum Automotive Parts vs Sand Casting

Pressure Die Casting Aluminum Automotive Parts vs Sand Casting. Aluminum die casting has many advantages over other processes in making parts and housings for different things. For instance, when producing automotive parts, manufacturers would want their finished products to fit the expectations of their customers: lightweight, less expensive, long lasting, durable, strong, and the like. Aluminum Sand Casting is usually the process used to make automotive parts, but because of the long machining process plus it being limited to only certain dimensions, aluminum was opted to be more advantageous when it came to production.

Aluminum die casting basically refers to the process of producing parts through high pressure casting, forcing molten metal through such pressure to create molds that could shape and put together the parts needed to create the fixtures, hardware, and the like. In the case of automotive parts, with aluminum they’re not as heavy in weight, they require less machining, and are made with thinner walls. Pressure die casting automotive parts can also be held with dimensional limits which are much closer to each other. The biggest perk of all is the quick and easy production of these parts since aluminum die casting parts can be produced up to a hundred thousand in number in a day.

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