GKN Sinter Metals joins Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT) partnership
July 15, 2017
GKN Sinter Metals has joined a partnership with Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT), Detroit, Michigan, USA. In an article published on GKN Sinter Metals Blog, Alan Taylor, GKN Sinter Metals Lightweight Technology, commented on the new partnership and the future of lightweight technology in the market as industries move toward electrification and hybridisation.
“LIFT is a US public-private organisation with the goal to develop advanced lightweight materials and apply training programs to prepare the incoming workforce. Members range from aerospace and automotive supply companies to government-run agencies and universities. As a member, GKN utilises LIFT as a hub to partner with those members,” Taylor stated. The company’s aerospace division, GKN Aerospace, has been a voting member of LIFT since joining in February 2016.
Speaking on LIFT’s grant proposal process, Taylor also revealed that GKN Powder Metallurgy and GKN Aerospace are working on potential projects through LIFT. “The organisation works as a facilitator for companies like us,” he explained. “LIFT is a coordinator team for member’s projects by allocating workloads and managing programme operations.”
“The ability to partner with customers and competition as peer relationships is also an advantage. LIFT targets projects that take technology from laboratory to new production products, which allows us to collaborate with companies that we normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to work with,” he continued.
Asked what role lightweight technology plays in the future of industry, Taylor stated, “lightweight is a market-driver – everything in transportation needs to be lighter to reduce our global CO2 footprint. It really speaks to our corporate tag line of ‘Engineering that moves the world,’ but more efficiently!”
Lightweight technology at GKN is a direct result of the company’s research to develop lighter materials such as aluminium for PM. “Lighter technology is now the third aspect of purchase decisions together with functionality and cost… To stay an industry leader, you have break the ‘we always do it that way’ philosophy and you have to be brave. We’re going after new technologies in lightweight and Additive Manufacturing, and we aren’t solely focused on maintaining the present.”
