Rising costs, ongoing supply chain issues and armed conflicts notwithstanding, OEMs and Tier suppliers are continuing to push forward with the development of their respective manufacturing operations to transition to electrified vehicles. In this edition we take a close look at the tools, technologies and strategies being deployed with the adoption of new processes and development of new platforms, starting with Volvo.

The Swedish OEM is investing more than $1 billion at its Torslanda plant including the introduction of a new aluminium foundry and the co-locating of a new battery production plant as part of a joint venture with Northvolt. Javier Varela, senior vice-president of engineering and operations, is the person tasked with leading Volvo Cars’ industrial transformation, and he spoke with AMS offering some insights into the Volvo’s ramp up in EV and battery output and meeting its ambitious sustainability targets.

Alongside this, we also interviewed Mikael Fermér, Volvo’s solution architect for vehicle platforms who explained more about the company’s significant shift in its approach to designing and producing vehicle architectures with the introduction of mega-casting to produce large, structural parts. Delving deeper into the growing application of this process we have some insights into the benefits and challenges around mega-casting from Professor Wolfram Volk, the department head for forming technology and casting at the Technical University of Munich.

Also, in this edition we highlight new vehicle producer, Ineos, as the company moves closer to serial production at its Hambach plant and look at how Magna is supporting the pickup truck segment in its move towards electrification.

The digital tools at the disposal of OEM’s and Tiers are becoming more sophisticated and adaptable to new tasks. We have two insightful features from Audi and Secondmind that highlight the developments in AI and machine learning, and how these tools are being applied to reduce complexity in engineering and development processes.

You can access more on these and other topics at the AMS website and also register to join us for the AMS Evolution Summit where a host of industry experts will share insights into the key topics shaping our industry.

Editor Nick Holt nick.holt@ultimamedia.com

Digital journalist Jason Dunn jason.dunn@ultimamedia.com

Senior Content Producer Ahmo Saric ahmo.saric@ultimamedia.com

Contributors Mike Farish, Mark Smyth, Claas Alexander Stroh, Götz Fuchslocher

Senior digital media & UX executivee Andrew Randall - andrew.randall@ultimamedia.com

Head of commercial development Andrew Fallon andrew.fallon@ultimamedia.com

Senior designer Steven Singh Bains steven.bains@ultimamedia.com

Senior designer Gemma Wood gemma.wood@ultimamedia.com

CRM and data manager Alistair Hankey alistair.Hankey@ultimamedia.com

Circulation and database Justyna Wanczyk justyna.wanczyk@ ultimamedia.com

Head of finance Kanokkan Durrant kanokkan.durrant@ultimamedia.com

Commercial director Mark Buller mark.buller@ultimamedia.com

Head of product and marketing Neemish Ladwa neemish.ladwa@ultimamedia.com

Editor-in-chief Christopher Ludwig christopher.ludwig@ultimamedia.com

Managing director Moritz Warth moritz.warth@mi-connect.de

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