There are few areas in the field of vehicle manufacture that are currently being as heatedly discussed as the integration of driver assist components, which is a challenge for both manufacturers and suppliers. As an expert for complex plastic components, Manfred Bremer accepted the invitation to come to Berlin for the platform discussion.

What do we have to do to become even better and more effective? This is only one of many questions that were put to the experts at the platform discussion that was carried out in Berlin. As with many complex applications, there are also different answers and concepts in this respect.

A great deal has changed in the driver assist systems segment, and development will continue in the future.

The current situation is as follows: the car manufacturers want to bring applications that are more and more powerful and optimised onto the market at ever-decreasing intervals. The window manufacturers are therefore becoming module suppliers in an increasing number of cases, and the individual component manufacturers are having to adapt to increasing requirements more quickly.

What this means in detail and the experience that has been gained has been evaluated by Manfred Bremer from Pöppelmann K-TECH®, and three main activities were defined:

• Early incorporation of all development partners involved in the project. The quicker the respective partners who are involved in the project are informed and the more detail that they are given, the more target-oriented each partner can bring in his expertise, particularly when it is a case of designing the respective components as functionally as possible. Function integration can only take place if you have an exact overview of the objectives and implementation options of the OEM and the module manufacturer.
• Improved interface management. This subject becomes extremely clear in the area of plastic carrier plates for accommodating the electronic components. On the one hand, the plastic component must fit perfectly on the windscreen, and on the other hand camera and sensor components have to be positioned in an assembly-compatible way. The partners must therefore think more intensively in tolerance fields and co-ordinate the respective material and process-specific parameters and characteristics.
• Increasing number of variants. The number of equipment variants and systems has increased rapidly in the last few years. On the one hand, this means that the partners in the entire supply chain must be more and more intensively interwoven with each other so that information can be exchanged more quickly. On the other hand, projects must be designed to be more integrated. Modular assemblies and standardised processes reduce the response times considerably. As a development partner and serial manufacturer for many years, Pöppelmann K-TECH® knows these market requirements down to the last detail. Many serial applications such as brackets and beauty covers have been implemented for more than ten years.