Home   Company   Services   Projects   Glossary   Contact

Project 02: Ford Galaxy Plastic Fender R&D project Project title Research, Development, Design, Know-how gathering and Production feasibility Investigation of a Plastic Fender for Ford Galaxy Company Decoma, a division of MAGNA Location Belgium, Genk and Germany, Köln Client Ford Motor Company Location Belgium, Genk and Germany, Köln Timing, duration Jan. 2002 to Oct. 2003 Brief description of the project Ford Motor Company decided investigate the feasibility of a plastic fender for the new Galaxy model. MAGNA, globally one of the major suppliers to the automotive industry, was requested as a partner to design, develop and investigate the feasibility of the brand new product. The Galaxy fender was designed to be made in sheetsteel. As a FSS (Full Service Supplier) it was up to the supplier to organise and preside the meetings within Ford in either Genk or Köln. As a Project Manager, I had the full P&L responsiblility for the overall project. My activities included: quotation, contract negotiation, CAD design, styling, CAE and computer simulations, know-how gathering, technical benchmarking, tear down, DOE, FMEA reliability investigation, testing, prototype build, production preparation and coordination, melt flow analysis, tool design, specify the equipment and machines, support to purchase, quality assurance activities, RASIC, project planning and follow up. I orgainsed the coordination and information exchange between the bumper production plant, the Ford car assembly plant, both in Belgium, the sales and design centre and the Ford HQ in Köln, Germany. As an average, I lived and worked 2 or 3 days per week in Köln, Germany. I determined and organised the testing in highly specialised laboratories all over Europe.