The high cost of automobile manufacturing is one of the important problems facing my country's automobile industry. It seriously restricts the performance of new cars in the market and greatly reduces the profit level of enterprises. However, for automobile manufacturers, it is easy to reduce the price of cars, but it is difficult to reduce manufacturing costs. For automobile companies, only by thinking hard to reduce costs can they truly improve their market competitiveness and remain invincible in the fierce market competition.

The automobile body is made of various stamped sheet metal parts welded together, and these parts are basically produced by the stamping process. More than 60% of the parts are stamped parts. In the cost of stamped parts, material costs generally account for more than 60%. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore cost control measures in automobile stamping, select appropriate stamping processes, optimize mold structures, reasonably select mold materials, and fully consider material utilization, etc., for the cost control of the whole vehicle.

The impact of stamping process selection on manufacturing costs the rationality of the stamping process directly affects the manufacturing cost of stamped parts, and the economic efficiency reflects the pros and cons of the stamping process plan. In terms of reasonable selection of stamping processes, there are many measures that can be used to achieve cost control.

1. Rationally design the stamping process Rationally design the stamping process to achieve the best structure and the least process. After the stamping process is reasonably split, the development cost of the mold is reduced. From the production aspect, after reducing the mold, the production efficiency is greatly improved, and twice the result with half the effort.

2. Use joint installation mode. The joint installation mode is to complete two or more process contents in the same die. After the combined die, each punch is equivalent to the punch of 2 to 3 original dies, which effectively improves production efficiency and reduces the pressure of machine tools. 2 to 3 dies are combined on 1 die for processing, achieving the purpose of cost reduction. The joint installation mode is generally used for medium and small stamping structural parts. It is not recommended for large parts, outer panels, and other parts with high surface quality requirements.

3. Process scheme of installing a scrap cutter on the drawing die Reducing the stamping process is an important way to control the stamping cost. There are many ways to reduce the process, and installing a scrap cutter on the drawing die is one of them. Some workpieces have complex surfaces, and large drops, and are difficult to form. If they are directly formed with a whole piece of sheet metal, it may be difficult. In terms of process design, it is possible to consider cutting corners on the drawing scrap, which can ensure drawing forming, reduce a set of dies, and improve economic efficiency.

4. Try to achieve co-molding of left and right parts. Co-molding of left and right parts is not only more conducive to the material forming but more importantly, it can save materials more efficiently than single-piece production. The left and right fenders of a certain car model were selected only based on formability without fully considering cost control factors. The material utilization rate was 26.8% when the left and right parts were stretched separately. The material utilization rate reached 33.5% when the left and right parts were stretched in the same mold, which was 6.7% higher. Each piece (left or right) produced consumed 2.8kg less material, reduced the development of 5 sets of molds, reduced the number of processes, and reduced the occupation of equipment and personnel and resource consumption. From the perspective of cost control, the advantages and disadvantages of the two solutions are quite obvious.

Cost reduction is carried out through the improvement and adjustment of the stamping process, from process design to production, to the rationality of actual processing, and finally to the formation of products; the entire process can maximize the reduction of the cost of producing automotive parts and improve the cost performance of products to adapt to various competitions in the market.