| Summary: |
Use of 3 different recycled recycled materials for hard
plastic components of instrument panels.
Cost savings: ~$3.10 per vehicle and $1.5MM annually. |
| Most Innovative Feature: |
Over 40% (by weight) of the hard plastics components
supplied by Collins & Aikman in the Instrument Panel are produced from
recycled materials. |
| Other Innovative Features: |
Recycled material components include: Top Cover (4.6 lbs),
Cross Car Duct (7.6 lbs), Center Stack Structure (1.8 lbs) and Glove Box
Inner (1.7 lbs) for a total of 15.7 lbs. |
| What Forming Process? |
Injection Molding. |
| First Time Process Used: |
First time DCX has used recycled materials for MVSS 201 and
208 impact requirements. |
| Previous Process: |
Virgin PC, virgin PC/ABS and virgin mineral filled PP. |
| Tooling Innovations: |
None required. |
| New Material Developments: |
Recycled materials had to meet impact, ductility, hi-heat,
HVAC thermal shock, NVH, PAB deployment and class "A" surface
requirements of current Minivan Instrument Panel. |
| Weight Savings: |
Weight was unchanged. |
| Cost Savings: |
Saves approximately $3.10/vehicle, $1,500,000 annually. |
| Cost Avoidance: |
N/A. |
| Direct Consumer Benefit: |
Represents the use of approximately 7 million pounds per
year of post consumer and post industrial plastic material in this single
application. |
| Translates to Other Vehicles?: |
Yes. |
| Safety Benefits: |
N/A. |
| Environmental Benefits: |
The recycled material in this DCX application moves
approximately 3,500 tons of recycled plastic per year into a high order
consumer/automotive product far exceeding any other OEM's Instrument Panel
recycled content. |
| Additional Comments: |
DCX Minivan Instrument panel has expanded the use of
recycled materials into one of the most demanding, high visibility, high
volume products currently in automotive production. |
