Stadco showcases pioneering chassis manufacturing process at Goodwood Festival of Speed
Stadco, a major British international Tier 1 supplier of automotive Body-in-White products and services, is showcasing an innovative new low volume chassis manufacturing process at Goodwood Festival of Speed, in conjunction with UK sports car manufacturer Zolfe, CENEX, the centre of excellence for low carbon technologies and the Niche Vehicle Network.
The showcase is the culmination of a project to provide the experience and advantages of mainstream automotive processes to niche chassis manufacturing. Typically, niche production is scalable, flexible and requires low investment. However, it is desirable for niche manufacturers to get as close as possible to the quality, repeatability, productivity and low unit cost of mainstream production.
The aims of the low volume chassis manufacturing project have been to develop a quality process that fits the business model of the niche manufacturer, particularly in relation to low investment cost, as well as to ensure that the process is compatible with tubular, monocoque and spaceframe constructions for maximum flexibility. In addition, Stadco wanted to demonstrate the implications of using high strength steel tubing for weight reduction in track version of the vehicle.
Stadco has taken the Zolfe tubular steel chassis from the concept design phase through a comprehensive programme to develop the manufacturing system, design and develop the manufacturing process and use this process to build a demonstrator chassis.
This demonstrator is proof of concept for the manufacturing process, which shows how low volume chassis manufacturing can be successfully achieved within more traditional constraints of niche vehicle manufacturing.