OEM technology marches on

"As OEs develop new technology and increase the use of computers and electronics, it has an impact on the aftermarket at every level," says Steve Handschuh, executive director of the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA). "The average vehicle today has 18 computers on it, which is more computer power than the lunar module that put a man on the moon."

The major manufacturers have shifted their focus to fuel economy and weight reduction. Mechanical systems are giving way to electronics. New materials and alloys are being developed and introduced. Hybrids and clean diesels are poised for growth. Vehicle life is expanding, and each new innovation seems to be followed by an explosion in new part numbers.

All of these factors add up to an ongoing sea of change within the automotive aftermarket that has significant ramifications not only for parts suppliers, but for distributors, retailers, repairers and consumers.

New OEM technology shapes the way aftermarket suppliers approach their business. "The speed in the evolution of engines has increased, and the longevity of any particular engine design has shortened, so there are fewer of them out there," says Dave Garmenn, light vehicle product team leader at the Clevite Engine Parts division of Dana Corp. "As far as the aftermarket is concerned, there are more part numbers with lower unit sales than ever before." If not handled properly, this can present quite a challenge.

Investing in electronics

Although the complexity of today's components can tip the scales in favor of the OEM part in a repair situation, there is always room for innovation and improvement in the aftermarket. Auto manufacturers are still plagued by recalls, and new electronic components have often presented reliability issues. Mercedes, for example, announced it was dropping the brake-by-wire system from its E-Class and CLS ranges because of numerous problems and recalls.

Therefore, it's more important than ever that aftermarket companies stay abreast of these new technology developments to remain competitive. This means they must continue to invest heavily in R&D spending and work even harder than before to keep pace with more complex vehicle componentry.

"It's been estimated that aftermarket parts suppliers have been spending in excess of $20 billion per year in R&D, and that number continues to climb," says Handschuh.

Much of that spending will go toward electronics, suggests Russ Schinzing, director of marketing for electronics at CARDONE Industries. "We're seeing electronics that have ball grid array technology, flip-chip technology, everything. You can't see the solder joint. You can't sit down with a solder iron and replace a component. We're using lasers and infrared technology to heat the solder joints, and then we actually have to x-ray the component to make sure we placed it correctly and soldered it properly."

He thinks this need for component superiority will bring about a doubling and tripling effect of spending as these technologies change. "You're spending more capital on R&D because of parts proliferation. If you look at some of the technologies necessary to deal with the electronics on the hard parts, it's expensive. We've invested heavily in that technology. It's the cost of doing business."

Schinzing says he sees all products becoming more electrical, including traditionally hydraulic systems. Currently, CARDONE is focusing on electronic power steering (EPS) systems and CAN technologies.

According to Schinzing, 2005 Saturn Vues and 2005 Chevy Malibus, which traditionally had a power steering pump on a rack pinion, now provide electronic power steering. "You don't need a power steering pump running all the time. You add some complexity with electronics but you take out some of the complexity with hydraulic systems — namely weight. All that leads to greater fuel efficiency. Manufacturers are straining to get every bit of fuel efficiency they can at this point."

The one downfall to electronics is they can't just be removed, tested, repaired and put back. "It's a fully integrated system," Schinzing says.

And some items are shrinking drastically in size — like from the size of a laptop to a wallet — while at the same time becoming more complex, says Schinzing, adding that vision equipment and other tools are now necessary for certain repairs. He tells us that from an electronics standpoint, Delphi and Bosch are really pushing the limits. "Never have they had that kind of technology under the hood, bolted onto the engine, dealing with that kind of vibration and environment."

Saying goodbye to the mechanicals

Because of this mass migration to electronics, it's no doubt we'll see less dedication to hard parts and mechanical and hydraulic components. "In pursuit of greater fuel economy and weight savings, more systems are going to be electronically controlled," says Scott Luckett, vice president for industry standards and solutions at the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA).

Jesse Jones, operations manager and gasket power team leader at Clevite, foresees cams, lifters and push rods eventually going away. "How the engine breathes is a direct reflection of the cam setup, and a lot of these are electronically controlled," Jones says. "The day will come when there is no camshaft, there is no follower. I think we'll see that. Any place where there's an electronic actuation that can occur, they will continue to push that envelope. If you eliminate friction, you eliminate power loss. Wherever you can do that, it's going to be a plus."

Alan Taub, executive director of research and development at General Motors, tells us that in the last 20 years, there has been a 25-percent increase in the value add of a vehicle having electrical control software. This trend has driven up the focus on mechatronics, which combines electronics, computers and sensors with mechanical components.

"That means more by-wire for more and more of our systems. As we become more and more electrified, there will be a trend to go steer-by-wire; there will be a trend to go brake-by-wire," says Taub.

He says that as a technologist, "this is the best time to be in the industry in its entire history. Technologies are now allowing true differentiation of vehicles in the eyes of consumers. If your role is advanced technology at GM, you couldn't ask for a better time to be at that helm than right now."

Vehicles will continue to morph as more technology options become available. The Corvette, for example, already has an electronic throttle control, and Mercedes-Benz has adopted this technology in its SL series sports cars. The Ford Escape Hybrid uses drive-by-wire technology for steering, braking and shifting.

There will even be electronics built into actual sealing products, says Jones at Clevite. "On the Ford 7.3, the rocker cover gasket itself has a plug built into it, so now you have electronics built right in. I can tell you that putting sensors right out there to the cylinder wall is coming. That's a long-term goal. With that, you get longevity of the part, but when it does fail, the days of the $20 head gasket are over. Now you're talking about a $100 gasket."

Smarter cars and materials

"Sensors and the use of electronics have had a big impact," says Ron Friskney, director of product management at Clevite. "They've done wonders to reduce pre-ignition and detonation, which cause engines to fail. Engines do not fail like they used to, which is having a dramatic impact on the sale of parts."

In addition to performance and reliability enhancements, sensors will also provide improved safety. General Motors is working on concept vehicles that have 360-degree "situation awareness," according to Taub. "The vehicle can be more knowledgeable about its immediate surroundings than the driver. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication is the next level, where a vehicle three cars ahead can let other cars know things that a driver could never see." GM has a concept vehicle Taub says cannot be crashed.

The entire vehicle, in fact, is becoming more responsive to driving conditions and the environment. Taub believes the next step from mechatronics is what is known as mechamatronics — the integration of "smart" materials with electronic systems.

"From our perspective, smart materials are now approaching automotive volume and cost," Taub says. "These are materials that change shape or change force or change gripping capacity not based on motors, but based on the application of either electricity, heat or a magnetic field."

These materials came out of the aerospace industry where, for example, jet fighters have been built with conformable wings. At GM, this concept has manifested itself in magneto-rheological fluids (MRF) in the suspension. "Instead of using a constant viscosity fluid in the suspension, we have a magnetic fluid. You can change its viscosity by turning on and off a magnetic field," Taub says. "We get to tailor the ride and handling by controlling the magnetic field on the shock absorber. On our Cadillac, it's a riding dynamic you just couldn't duplicate. We're looking at adapting clutches and fans to get tailored behavior over time. That's the beginning of a whole new class of materials that will enable degrees of flexibility that the aftermarket people, particularly the tuners and performance people, will love. These are truly tailorable and customizable devices."

The drive to reduce vehicle weight has also led to an embrace of new materials and alloys, says Jones. "Weight is the No. 1 consideration. The OEs are looking at any material that can lower weight, dissipate heat and reduce friction."

The USCAR collaborative project (spearheaded by DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors) is working with the Department of Energy to develop hybrid and fuel-cell vehicle technology, as well as reducing vehicle weight through use of new materials.

According to David Turcotte, technical director at Valvoline, the USCAR group has developed a prototype magnesium engine block. "You can pick it up with one hand," Turcotte says.

Magnesium has already worked its way into some engines. The Corvette Z06 has a magnesium engine cradle that is 35 percent lighter than its aluminum counterpart, and both Mercedes and Volkswagen have introduced magnesium components.

Lighter engines have wide-reaching ramifications on component design. "Maybe the springs and shocks get smaller and lighter," Turcotte says. "What's exciting is there are fantastic new alloys with great joining properties that didn't exist five or six years ago, and those might be used in other applications as well. There are advantages to making other components out of magnesium in terms of weight and performance."

Magnesium, however, reacts differently to different fuels, coolants and other metals than aluminum, iron or steel. "That's where you get into the compatibility issue," says Jones at Clevite. "We don't know what the long-term impact will be, or what these parts will be asked to do. There will be no shortage of engineering going on."

Cooling systems and fluids will also change significantly as engine materials change and fuel-cell vehicles are introduced. "The systems are completely incompatible with today's chemistries," says Turcotte.

Turning toward the aftermarket

Technological complexity has had a number of direct effects on the aftermarket. More complex and expensive parts have driven many consumers and repairers to OEM parts. That, in turn, has put additional pressure on aftermarket suppliers to meet form, fit and function requirements, as well as add value and innovation.

"In the days when we had isolated controllers, the aftermarket would find ways to recalibrate one of our ECUs, maybe drive the performance up or do a different trade-off than we did," says GM's Taub. "Now controllers are interconnected through a local area network, we're starting to get embedded controllers, and the sophistication of aftermarket on those kinds of modifications will need to go to the next level. The skill base of the folks both inside our company and with our partners needs to increase."

Jones says, "Every time they change one of these really expensive-to-make parts ever so slightly, unless we figure out a way to make a part that works in both applications, you're talking about an entirely new investment in tooling. It makes it more difficult for aftermarket suppliers to give the consumer an option other than the OE service piece. There will be cases where it's not economically feasible."

Finally, with each new advancement comes a batch of new products and part categories. Parts proliferation is a growing concern for OEMs and aftermarket suppliers, as well as distributors and repair shops. "We went through a period 20 years ago where there was very little change in vehicle technology," says Handschuh. "But that has changed. As the technology changes, the aftermarket's challenge at the manufacturer level is to produce these expanding SKUs. At the warehouse/distributor level, the challenge is to broaden the SKU count and have the product on demand. The vehicle owner expects to get their car fixed today, regardless of the technology in it. That creates an opportunity and a challenge for the aftermarket to ensure that when those vehicles show up in repair facilities, the aftermarket supply chain has the product available on the shelf, and can provide it to the professional repair facility."

The emphasis on computers and electronics will also change the way aftermarket suppliers and repairers approach their customers. "We developed our own generic reprogramming tool for that reason," says Schinzing at CARDONE, who adds that some repairs will become easier due to the ability to reprogram certain components. "Repairs can be cheaper and faster by doing reprogramming rather than ordering a part, waiting for it and replacing it. They can have a customer in and out of there in 10 or 15 minutes."

However, this doesn't mean repairs will get easier. Much more will be needed for a tech to even determine what's wrong with a car.

"It wasn't that long ago that a mechanic could visually inspect a part and replace it if it was 'broken.' Now sensors and electronics require that symptoms and trouble codes be diagnosed with sophisticated scan tools and diagnostic procedures," says Luckett. "There is tremendous pressure on technicians to get the skills, tools and information needed to diagnose the electronic systems of the modern vehicle. Without these, the independent service channel will be relegated to replacing fluids and replacing wear items like brakes."

Freelancer Brian Albright formerly served as an editor with Frontline Solutions, a magazine focusing on supply chain management initiatives.