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www.ADandP.media The body-in-white of the 7 Series is not just one type of material. Rather, it is a combination of metals and plastic. The B-pillar, for example, is a sandwich consisting of high-strength steels with a CFRP middle. ALT ROUTE In the United Kingdom they're so bullish on composites that in 2011, as an element of the U.K. Composites Strategy (who knew that a country would have a "composites strategy"?), the National Composites Center (NCC) was opened in Bristol. There are more than 30 companies participating in the NCC, which has foor space measuring 8,500-m 2 (91,493-ft 2 ). A recent addition to the equipment on the foor of the NCC is a mixing and metering machine, the RimStar Compact 4/4/4 from KraussMaffei (kraussmaffei.com), which is used to process both epoxy resin and polyurethane for high-pressure resin transfer molding (HP-RTM). CFRP in the U.K. While Dingolfng has expertise in aluminum manufacturing techniques, it has also gained extensive competence in producing CFRP components. For example, they use a "hybrid pressing" process to produce the B-pillars. Resin-impregnated carbon fber sheets (prepregs) are placed in a mold along with the steel blanks. The press cycles and pressure and heat are applied to create the component. They're also doing a wet pressing process to produce parts. Again, prepregs are pressed in a three-dimensional die and hardened. Although the cycle time to produce these parts is molasses-like compared to sheet metal stamping operations, the Dingolfng operation has the ability to produce "several thousand" CFRP components per day. It should be noted that BMW has made more than a minor investment in the production technologies that are being deployed in Dingolfng for the production of the 7 Series. According to Oliver Zipse, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, responsible for Production, during the 3 years prior to the launch of the car in 2015, the company had invested "more than a half a billion Euros in new efcient production technologies" for the car. In 2012, Germany-based consultancy Roland Berger (rolandberger.com) produced a study titled "Series production of high-strength composites: Perspectives for the German engineering industry." In it, the authors write that they anticipate that the key industries that will drive the growth of high-strength fber-reinforced composites will be automotive and aerospace. Interestingly, BMW, established in 1916, was originally an aircraft engine manufacturing company; it didn't start building cars until 1928. The authors go on to point out (remember, this is for the German industry), "The market for high- strength fber-reinforced composites will experience solid growth until 2020. At a rate of 17 percent 33 AD&P; ∕ MARCH 2016 BMW