Can engineers keep a small company such as Mazda viable in this era of globalization? Maybe. And
if not, their attempts will surely give Mazda’s next big-wallet benefactor a leg up in niche product
profitability. Some of the technology outlined during the Mazda3 launch (see page 42) also applies
to the 6 and CX-5, but I never got the Vulcan mind-meld with Mazda vehicle evaluation manager
and onetime Sport Compact Car honcho David Coleman during those launches, so you’re getting
the debrief here.
if not, their attempts will surely give Mazda’s next big-wallet benefactor a leg up in niche product
profitability. Some of the technology outlined during the Mazda3 launch (see page 42) also applies
to the 6 and CX-5, but I never got the Vulcan mind-meld with Mazda vehicle evaluation manager
and onetime Sport Compact Car honcho David Coleman during those launches, so you’re getting
the debrief here.
Perhaps the most startling of Mazda’s little-guy innovations is its radical rethink of engine family
architecture. Much of the magic in optimizing an engine’s efficiency happens in and around the
combustion chamber. Forcing different displacement engines to share bore center distances trades
savings on machine tooling for costs on reengineering the quite different combustion chambers that
result. (It also tends to make smaller-displacement engines weigh more than larger ones.) Mazda
designs one perfect Skyactiv combustion chamber and scales the entire engine up or down around
it, so engines share only rockers, lash-adjusters, and bolts.
architecture. Much of the magic in optimizing an engine’s efficiency happens in and around the
combustion chamber. Forcing different displacement engines to share bore center distances trades
savings on machine tooling for costs on reengineering the quite different combustion chambers that
result. (It also tends to make smaller-displacement engines weigh more than larger ones.) Mazda
designs one perfect Skyactiv combustion chamber and scales the entire engine up or down around
it, so engines share only rockers, lash-adjusters, and bolts.
Because the company is sized to need thousands of engines, not millions, it can now produce four
Skyactiv I-4s (three gas and one diesel) and a V-6 with just four machining operations executed by
highly flexible computer-numerical-control robotic machine tools. That’s down from 45 operations on
traditional tools building common architecture engines. A fresh engine casting now gets machined in
just 1.3 hours, a fraction of which is spent moving it and clamping down. The old way took six hours,
less than half of which was spent actually cutting metal on the MZR engine family.
Other engine optimization tech includes electric variable intake valve timing with 70 degrees of authority
that provides some Valvetronic/Multi-Air capability, such as partial throttling to reduce pumping losses,
at much lower cost. Naturally, there’s also direct injection and 13:1 compression, and the engine is
prepped for Mazda’s innovative start-stop system that uses the alternator to brake the engine to a
stop with a partially compressed charge in one cylinder, into which gas and spark can be sent to assist
the electric starter for a quicker, lower-energy restart. On Tech Package models, that alternator is a
variable voltage unit, designed to pump 25 kilojoules of energy into the i-ELOOP capacitorin just 8
seconds when coasting or braking.
Modular chassis design is nothing new, but Mazda’s take establishes common positioning and cross-
sections of the crash load-path structure (which now incorporates the lower engine/suspension cradle)
so that different models can easily be built on the same line. Tailoring the architecture to each vehicle
involves tinkering with metal grade, thickness, spot-weld patterns, and the like. The 3 also incorporates
steel so hard, it must be red-hot when it’s stamped for use in the B-pillars and bumper reinforcements.
sections of the crash load-path structure (which now incorporates the lower engine/suspension cradle)
so that different models can easily be built on the same line. Tailoring the architecture to each vehicle
involves tinkering with metal grade, thickness, spot-weld patterns, and the like. The 3 also incorporates
steel so hard, it must be red-hot when it’s stamped for use in the B-pillars and bumper reinforcements.
Auto analysts contend Mazda can’t survive alone, but we innovation enthusiasts can hope that sharing
its niche profitability expertise on projects such as the forthcoming Miata/Alfa-Romeo roadster will keep
the tiny Hiroshima company zooming alone.
its niche profitability expertise on projects such as the forthcoming Miata/Alfa-Romeo roadster will keep
the tiny Hiroshima company zooming alone.
Read more: http://blogs.motortrend.com/creative-engineering-for-niche-profitability-30571.html#ixzz2e2TkNtTz
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