The following excerpt is from an article originally published on PlasticsNews.com
AUBURN HILLS, MICH. (Jan. 15, 11:30 a.m. ET) — Henniges Automotive Holdings Inc. has found ways to cut anywhere from eight to 12 pounds from vehicle weight through sealing alone.
“Our product has often been overlooked in the area of weight,” CEO Douglas DelGrosso said. “People focus on typically metal and steel to get weight off and if you think about the amount of sealing that is in the typical C-Class sedan, it’s a lot of product and rubber is heavy.”
In an environment fueled by meeting such standards as fuel efficiency and emissions reductions, being able to take weight off a vehicle wherever possible helps.
“If you find some creative ways to take off weight and take it to the customer in today’s environment with all the pressure that’s on them to meet, whether its CO2 standards or general emissions standards, we have tried to focus ourself there,” he said.
DelGrosso sees this as a big opportunity for his firm if it is able to show its customers the potential for such reductions.
“That’s a pretty significant amount of savings [in weight],” he said. “That represents about a 20-percent reduction in the overall weight. … Some of it can be done without any additional costs.”
If done on a large enough scale, he added, it might even amount to a cost savings.
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