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Plastic Omnium claims first with fender module

Plastic Omnium, an established supplier of front end modules (FEM) as part of HBPO (Hella Behr Plastic Omnium), has developed the world’s first fender modules for the new BMW X5.

It says they offer better panel fit, improved pedestrian impact protection, weight reduction and greater freedom in the design of the front end as well as simplified supply chain and logistics and greater ease of assembly.

Pre-painted thermoplastic fenders are fixed to a structure that mounts the headlamps and washers, fog lights, indicators, windscreen washer reservoir, charge air and oil coolers and air guides, wheel housing, head impact absorber and airbag sensors. Modules are sequence delivered to the X5 assembly line fully assembled and ready to fit.

Plastic Omnium supplied the bumpers for the previous X5. Thierry Micheron, communications director, Plastic Omnium auto exterior, explained: “We have been working for more than 10 years on fender modules, issuing a first patent in 1996. This was fitting well with a BMW need for its X5 replacement in 2003.”

Plastic Omnium’s plant in Duncan, South Carolina, 30 miles from BMW’s Spartanburg plant, was expanded from its former role of sequenced bumper manufacturing for the X5 to handle the new fender modules: floorspace was increased by 100,000 ft2 and new jobs created.

Fender concept: Plastic Omnium's module for the BMW X5 is a world first, the group says

For BMW, the modules offer clear benefits to the manufacturing process. It said: “The creation of the fender module has been a balance between materials, technology and processes. BMW custom builds its vehicles to order and market specifications, and there are 16,000 variations of module.

“The key advantages to the fender module for BMW are that they are manufactured off-site and delivered complete, which means BMW associates are not involved in a multi-step manufacturing process on the production line, saving floor space for parts at the factory and eliminating the need for management since Plastic Omnium manages the supply chain.”

Experience of FEMs helped with the development of the new modules but the design and engineering are quite different: “FEMs are much more related to structural requirements mainly because they carry crash beams and the hood latch,” said Micheron. “A fender module is much more related to body issues – flush and gaps with doors, hood, headlamps – although it also gathers semi-structural parts such as the fender carrier and supports.”

The fenders are injection moulded in talc-filled PP-EPDM for a mass of 3.3kg. Off-line painting could create colour match issues compared to the practice of spraying with the body in white so stringent steps ensure quality.

BMW said: “Colour matches are a concern when suppliers provide painted parts off-line. Plastic Omnium has a colour match robot to take measurements of the fender paint and as a further quality check, it goes on line with BMW’s paint shop to check trends from the robot readings so adjustments can be made.

Plastic Omnium’s experience in providing painted bumpers off-line is a benefit and has helped us to move to the next level with fender modules.”

The carrier, to which to the components are attached, is also plastic but this time made from glass-filled polypropylene. The assembly process is semi-automatic and the fender is then screwed to the carrier. The finished module weighs approximately 15kg, varying with equipment level and whether it is a LH/RH assembly and offers overall (but undisclosed) savings on weight and assembly time.

Mounting the headlamps into the fender is also an industry first and much effort went into the design of the mountings to ensure they were rigid enough for lamp alignment and operation.
Micheron said: “Features on the fender allow direct positioning of the headlamp relative to the fender. Special care has been taken on fixing elements and assembly fixtures to accommodate part tolerance dispersion.” BMW added that “success has been achieved through strict manufacturing processes and quality checks throughout the process.”

Use of fender modules has enabled BMW to alter the join lines between panels, resulting in new possibilities in front-end styling. Micheron explained: “If you look at the pictures of the car you will see that there is no seam between the fender and the bumper as there is with the previous version. The plastic fender is integrating part of a “traditional” bumper cover. It has allowed the stylists to have the cut line between fender and bumper in a different location, in a lower area relative to the headlamp.”

Plastic Omnium says it has further applications of the module under development. BMW, which also uses thermoplastic fenders on its M6 and 3 Series coupé, said: “New technology, manufacturing processes and lessons learned are shared throughout the BMW network so it is likely that the fender module concept will be used for other BMW models.”

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