Buell blasts off with molded-in color

Value analysis project yields innovative, but challenging, project that created major savings.

By -- Purchasing, 3/8/2001

Looking for a value analysis idea to cut costs on a product requiring painted metal or plastic? Consider molded-in color. Buell Motorcycles took that route on four appearance-critical parts on its new Blast model and slashed costs.

But be careful what you wish for: The project, initiated by a purchasing engineering team, required highly sophisticated management of a complex, highly technical supply chain. The story also demonstrates, however, the hoops a supply chain will jump through when the benefit is clear.

The process began with a product development team that included design and purchasing engineers. Buell models its approach after its parent, Harley Davidson, which won the 2000 Purchasing Medal of Professional Excellence Award (see www.purchasing.com, Sept. 21, 2000). Buell and Harley established product development teams that put purchasing engineers on equal footing with design engineers. The idea is to involve suppliers at the early stage of product development.

Heading the 12-person purchasing engineering team at Buell's product development center in East Troy, Wis., is Lars E. LaVine.

"When we began development of the Buell Blast, several issues were critical, including cost," explains LaVine. "As we analyzed major systems, we considered what customers are looking for and what processes we are using. The bodywork system really jumped out."

In previous models Buell had used painted plastic parts. Some other bike makers had shifted to molded-in color, using ABS plastics. "That wasn't acceptable for us because it wasn't high enough quality," says LaVine. ABS is an impact-resistant molding material that fits in the gray area between commodity and engineering plastics. For Buell it lacked adequate scratch resistance.

Scratch resistance wasn't the only high bar set by the Buell product development team. "Our customers like our body work and our high degree of quality," says LaVine. "We need parts with very high, paint-like gloss."

The purchasing engineers researched options and focused on two high-level plastics with some experience in automotive body applications: Xenoy from GE Plastics and Surlyn Reflection Series from DuPont. Sample parts were submitted for testing on Buell's specifications. Companies using the materials were contacted and interviewed.

Buell selected the Surlyn material, which debuted two years ago in molded-in-color fascias for the DaimlerChrysler Neon. The material has also been used in ice-skate boots and snowmobile hoods.

The newness of the material was a possible problem. "Not many customers were involved in using the material for high-volume applications," says LaVine "And no one was pushing the envelope as much as we did on requiring a true Class A surface." Another issue: the material's flow characteristics. "It flows like concrete," says LaVine, with half a chuckle.

Analysis of the project indicated it would be worth the pain. "Cost of a body series with Surlyn was projected at well under $100," says LaVine. If we were to paint the parts, the cost would go into the hundreds."

LaVine's group asked DuPont to improve the flow.

They worked with Rob Townsend, a DuPont business manager, who comments: "Changes in the formulation were required to balance the properties the way Buell wanted." They required a material with different flow characteristics than Chrysler needed for the Neon." The original melt index for the material was three grams per 10 minutes at 240ºC. The material now has a flow of five. That's still low, compared with thermoplastics olefins.

The other adjustment was in the tooling. The cavities for the fascias were large, but had a short flow length thanks to a large edge gate. Besides slow flowing, Surlyn is also shear-sensitive, meaning that it may degrade during molding. So the mold builder, another link in the supply chain, was told to build the tool with generous edge gates. Four molds for the Buell Blast were made by Build-a-Mold in Windsor, Ontario.

Another challenging issue was the color molded into the plastic. Buell specified highly chromatic colors, fitting for a splashy new motorcycle. U.S. environmental regulations phased in during the 1990s ruled out use of cadmium and other toxic metals used to create bright reds, oranges and yellows. Another supplier, A. Schulman of Akron, Ohio, entered the picture to create the colors and the compounds. New organic pigments were used to create the right effect, but created another problem-a very narrow processing window. Mold temperatures had to be held in the 455-470ºF range.

And the Buell purchasing team raised the bar again. Molding plastics typically contain very minute contaminants that show up in the molded part as black flecks, especially if those parts are white or yellow. That's not a problem if the part is subsequently painted. "We are engaged in a supply chain review of our own to ensure that the material we are providing to the molder (Victor Plastics in Victor, Iowa) is speck-free," says Buell. Because of Buell, DuPont is leading a sigma analysis, focusing on its own manufacturing process to ensure speck-free material. Victor Plastics is also taking steps to ensure that no contaminants enter the compound prior to molding.

And one more adjustment had to be made to the tool spec to make sure that the gloss and color reflection hit Buell's demands head on. Any mold defects show up on the high-gloss surface.

The mold builder is now chrome plating the highly polished cavity (SPE #1) to eliminate any porosity inherent in tool steel.

The Buell Blast has been in full production for several months and is a big hit with bikers. Four parts use the molded-in color: front fender, windscreen, fuel tank cover and the tail section. The Buell team is planning to use molded-in color on projects under development.

"Molded-in color is our future now as our core product," says Buell's LaVine.

Plastics in vehicles: more to come

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