Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/440012
January 2015 | EquipmentWorld.com 26 I nnovation is the result of conquering a diffi cult quest using imagination fueled by passion and experience. The 2015 F-150 is a rolling example full of inno- vation, and its aluminum body is just one example of why it's deserving of one of Equipment World's 2015 Innovation awards. Twenty-some years ago a young automotive body struc- tures engineer by the name of Bruno Barthelemy was part of a team at Ford tasked with building an aluminum-intensive vehicle (AIV) using the Mercury Sable as the test platform. It was an experiment to reduce the weight of vehicles, thus improving fuel economy and setting the stage to meet ever-increasing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. They built a test fl eet of 100 Mercury Sable AIVs and put them out in the world to see how they'd fare. The AIV Sables did what was expected, but Ford deemed the cost of making mass-produced, aluminum- bodied, four-cylinder cars for the U.S. market out- weighed the benefi ts at the time. But the challenge of meeting ever-increasing CAFE standards remained as did the challenges of fi nding ways to make vehicles that met those standards. "Our [team's] job is to fi nd innovative ways to design parts to reduce the weight and total cost of the part while maintaining or surpassing the strength requirements of the body structure," said Dr. Barthelemy in 2006, by then Ford's global chief engineer, Body Structures. They were also "looking for the perfect application" according to Barthelemy where a stronger, lighter-weight aluminum body could be used so the benefi ts out- weighed the costs to the consumer. That opportunity came in 2008 when Ford Truck innovations | continued 2015 Ford F-150's head-turning aluminum body improves fuel economy, acceleration performance and payload capacity