The automotive market is driven by many safety performance assessment programs. Less CO2 emissions and reduced production costs are the main priority for OEMs, to comply with regulations and to strengthen their advantage in an extremely competitive market. The cost-effective reduction of a vehicle’s structural components, known as Body-in-White (BIW), has been one of OEMs’ main targets. Such reduction is possible with lighter BIWs, made of Advanced High Strength Steels (>1,500MPa), using a process known as hot stamping. Components produced this way can be 20-30% lighter compared to cold stamping. Hot stamping components account for 11% of the total current value of European vehicles; the state of the art has limitations that prevent extending hot stamping to more vehicle components, e.g. components with complex geometries, very thin or locally tailored components. Our innovation, RUSH AI, is an ultra-fast system for hot stamping of light-weight components, quality-controlled by self-correcting, online AI. It reduces manufacture cycling time by over 70%, thanks to a novel hydraulic press solution and a “sweating die” made by additive manufacturing and inspired by human sweat. Its efficiency results in savings of 70-80% OPEX. We aim to upgrade RUSH AI from TRL6 to TRL9. By project’s end, 2020, the hot stamping TAM will be €11.8bn, 13% of the total BIW market (€91bn). In the first 10 years of commercialization, SAM is estimated to reach €1bn. We expect sales above €148m by 2030 and a market share of 15%. Users will be OEMs and their Tier-1 suppliers. RUSH AI can be implemented in old and new hot stamping lines. A joint venture company is considered by the 3 industrial partners to commercialize the process line, yet each keeps the separate rights of exploitation of individual results. This Consortium consists of 4 partners from 3 EU countries. All members possess the technical and market expertise to commercialize RUSH AI within 36 months.

Additive manufacturing (AM) offers unprecedented design freedom and the possibility to produce lightweight optimised components that are impossible to make with traditional techniques; or bespoke components that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive if produced in small volumes. Despite the significant progress made in AM, the surface roughness of parts produced by this method continues to be an issue. Rough surface finish on AM parts causes wear, corrosion and fatigue, micro-cracks, poor tolerances, and is aesthetically displeasing. These negative characteristics often outweigh the positive ones of unlimited complexity of shapes and weight reduction benefits. Post-processing finishing methods exist for reducing roughness, but these can be costly and have limited effectiveness, particularly in relation to complex, high surface roughness components. As a result, the application of AM parts in industry is being constricted, particularly in the aerospace and medical industries, where the surface finish of components is highly critical. We have developed PALMS (Plasma Additive Layer Manufacture Smoothing), an innovative cost-effective macro-polishing solution based on novel electrochemical plasma technology. The macro finish (10-50µm) AM parts are rapidly treated in a highly controlled manner in less than 20 minutes, leaving a uniform, smooth micro-finish (<0.1µm), resulting in considerably improved aesthetics and mechanical performance. Our participation in the FTI programme, will allow us to accelerate the commercialisation process for the PALMS TRL6 technology and undertake innovation from the demonstration stage through to market uptake within 32 months after project start. In doing so, we will capture up to 3.0% of the global market by year 5 post project, generating combined revenues of over €68million with an IRR return on investment of 1063%, and the creation of over 160 new jobs.