On November 1, 2017, on the bank of Yangtze River, Changshu City, Jiangsu Province, GONVVAMA is officially put into operation with annual capacity of 260,000 tons hot stamped and laser welded high-strength automotive steel, meaning the establishment of a world class automotive steel processing base. The customer base of GONVVAMA consists of a lot of OEMs, including FAW VW, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Volvo Geely, Dongfeng Renault, Honda, Daimler, GM, and Jaguar Land Rover, and downstream enterprise customers involved in hot stamping process, including famous industrial players such as Cosma, Gestamp, Huaxiang, Huaxin, Lingyun, and Fufeng. This heavyweight project for automotive steel covers the major automotive clusters in China, and settles down in the Yangtze River Delta Economic Belt, thus creating a far-reaching influence on the market. In the meanwhile, Changshu, where the project is located, has more than RMB 100 billion sales revenue in automotive industry, and hosts 200 automotive parts manufacturers including Jaguar Land Rover, Qoros, Toyota R&D Center, and Mitsubishi Electric, covering many areas such as whole vehicle manufacturing, R&D, automotive finance, automotive culture and automotive city trade. Changshu also hosts 3,000 companies from 60 countries and regions with foreign fund of USD 15 billion. In 2019, Changshu will join the Shanghai railway passenger and cargo transport network.
GONVVAMA is an equal-share partition joint venture between Valin ArceloMittal Automotive Steel Co., Ltd. (VAMA) and Gonvarri Steel Services. Headquartered in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province, GONVVAMA currently has 4 Advanced Technologies and Solutions Centers (ATS) in four cities in China, including Changshu, Shenyang and Chongqing and Loudi, with total investment of approximately RMB 1 billion, covering the major automotive clusters in China and helping automotive manufacturers meet the challenges of body weight saving, improved safety performance and environmental protection.
As the extended supporter of VAMA’s downstream industry chain, GONVVAMA focuses on the integrated forming of hot formed steel, advanced high-strength steel, ultrahigh-strength steel and exposed steel plates, and processing service of laser welded parts (LWB) with a view to providing quality products and integrated technical service solutions to automotive manufacturers.
Greener, lighter and safer car body solutions with steel are the goals set up for GONVVAMA. According to industrial experts, the global automotive manufacturing industry operates within a stringent regulatory environment. This is also the case in China with a regulation framework that is becoming more stringent and demanding. So the challenge for suppliers is to match the regulation but to do so within the very short timescale. There are two main aspects. One is to drastically improve the fuel efficiency in China’s car fleet with the target to reach an average consumption of 5 litres per 100 kilometers. A further target of 4.5 litres per 100 kilometers is anticipated for the period after. In addition, China wants to achieve the Euro VI emission standard by 2020. Then comes safety regulations. It is very likely that new crash management standards will be in place in China by next year, raising the requirements here to match those of the US. Another issue to consider is supply chain reform. The government wants to see China’s industry move from pure manufacturing base to one with more high technology content, and that there will be greater domestic ownership of the key developments that are driving the industry. The latter particularly resonates with China’s domestic car makers who are receiving a strong push and pull from the government to upgrade technology content in the products they are developing and selling domestically. China’s government wants to make sure that such solutions and products are available locally to support its initiative. They want the automotive industry to strive for self-sufficiency in innovation and supply components rather than rely on the need to import.
As global No.1 supplier of steel production and solutions, ArcelorMittal has marked steady footprint in China via VAMA. The equal-share joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Valin Steels covers a full range of steels starting from mild steel grades and to steels that have ultrahigh strength limits, especially the hot-stamping grades, for instance Usibor® 2000 and Ductibor® 1000. Those steel grades have been widely used in Chinese market allowing the car makers to achieve stringent objective in crash safety, weight saving and emission reduction.
Bring global leading technologies to China
The vocation of ArcelorMittal is not to limit themselves to product supplier, but a solution provider. With the success of VAMA, ArcelorMittal decides to extend its supply chain so at to better bring its downstream technologies to Chinese market. A new joint venture, GONVVAMA, was thus created to offers the most advanced solutions to Chinese customers. VAMA Gonvarri Advanced Automotive Steel Solutions Co. Ltd (GONVVAMA) is an equal-share partition joint venture between VAMA and Gonvarri Steel Services, a worldwide leader in steel processing and distribution. As a downstream solution provider for automotive steel, GONVVAMA will be integrated within the supply chain of VAMA as one channel to the clients. With technical transfer and unreserved support from shareholders, GONVVAMA operates with vanguard manufacturing technologies specialized in monolithic blanking and laser welded parts (LWB) in steel for both cold stamping and hot-stamping applications (for instance Usibor® 2000 and Ductibor® 1000), third generation ultra-high strength steel and exposed panel.
Headquartered in Changshu, GONVVAMA is currently operating 4 advanced technology solutions centers (ATS) in Loudi, Changshu, Shenyang and Chongqing, covering the major automotive clusters in China. As part of the joint venture, all of them will be equipped with best in class shape blanking and laser welding processing lines employing ArcelorMittal’s proprietary technologies and knowhow for automotive steel. Through its extensive network of self-owned centers and strategic SSC partners all over China, GONVVAMA will offer to customers a full range of steel services and solutions.
Innovative body in white design
As a benefit of technical support from ArcelorMittal, revolutionary new concepts, such as hot stamped Laser Welded Blanks for safety cage, are introduced to customers by GONVVAMA. These new concepts are today booming in EU and US markets. The proven solutions are not only improving the safety of the passengers, but are also playing an important role in the reduction of the weight of the body in white and of total assembly cost.
Door Ring developed by Arcelor Mittal is a perfect case to illustrate the benefit that the customers can perceive via the new technologies: part consolidation, 1 part; material cost reduction via effective nesting and optimization; improved part performance with continuous laser joint and new materials;
Since decades, ArcelorMittal has developed generic steel solutions (ArcelorMittal S-in motion®) include C Class Body-in-White, closures, chassis parts and seats for cars of all the segments. The S-in motion® solutions offer a catalog of lightest vehicle designs with currently available AHSS grades, with integration of worldwide crash, stiffness requirements and performance ratings, achieved at the lowest possible cost. For instance, the ArcelorMittal S-in motion® mid-sized SUV solution allows to achieve weight saving of 112kg in body-in-white and closures comparing to the modern baseline, without jeopardizing safety and at nearly the same cost. With the implantation of GONVVAMA plants, those solutions are today at the doorstep of Chinese customers.
Electric vehicles (EV)-New trend
The role of advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) in EV production is becoming more and more important. In 2020, China’s target is to produce two million EVs; and to double that figure by 2025. Weight savings in this type of vehicle are crucial as the battery itself accounts for much of car’s overall weight.
Looking specifically at the requirements for EVs, integration of heavy battery and removal of internal combustible energy power chain leads to drastic change in car mass balance and put a new challenge in crash management. Meanwhile the battery and the battery cover also come with significant safety and crash protection considerations. There will be strong push to get AHSS into this type of car, thereby guarantee both the safety and weight saving.
ArcelorMittal Global R&D and Gonvvama have been always developing specific S-in motion solutions on EVs in response to China regulations. The award winning solutions, integrating the most advanced AHSS and hot stamping grades, help customers to achieve excellent crash safety performance with considerable weight saving and nearly no penalty in cost. With know how transfer from Gonvarri, GONVVAMA consolidate its leading technical position in exposed steel part blanking and aluminum blanking, as an important complement to the steel solution catalogue.
Early involvement
In providing products and solutions, ArcelorMittal also offers joint design services. As regulation becomes more stringent, OEM design centers in China are working quickly to make the next generation of cars safer and lighter. Thanks to the R&D support from ArcelorMittal, GONVVAMA works with these design centers, bringing its expertise on tailor made solutions and applications of body-in-white reviews, nesting, formability study of LWB parts and integrated supply chain will be implemented to help customers improve production efficiency and product performance. The exclusive advanced processing technology, hot stamped LWB, are introduced to customers by GONVVAMA as it efficiently contributes to weight reduction and part consolidation with material cost reduced, part performance improved and limited impact to manufacturing process. Facing challenges from fast turning markets, GONVVAMA is looking forward to creating a promising future together with our customers.
