On Tuesday, June 20, WAPA members gathered for an informative lunch hosted by the Steel Market Development Institute at the National Press Club in downtown Washington DC. Dr. Jody Hall provided an in-depth presentation on how steel technology has evolved and benefited the automotive industry over the last fifty years.
Steel has many uses for different needs within a vehicle.
Performance, Value, and Sustainability were key talking points in the presentation. New manufacturing processes have made steel more ecologically efficient as well as producing a stronger and lighter material. Through a series of videos, charts and talking points Dr. Hall showed that within any one vehicle there are multiple types of steel, each providing a very different benefit; formability for styling flexibility to structural rigidity for better handling and impact zones that absorb the energy of a high-speed crash, and as castings for smaller more powerful engines
New Steel Technology
New metallurgical techniques have provided engineers with a product that has the ability to do many different tasks for a new vehicle, then at the end of use, can be shredded and recycled for reuse as new steel. This continuing cycle makes steel environmentally friendly as it can easily be recycled over and over again. With advances in production, steel factories have become noticed for their positive effect on providing employment and American Jobs, as opposed to belching noxious clouds, as they once did.
SMDI raffled off a Drone to WAPA June lunch attendees.
WAPA members who attended were treated not only a delicious three-course lunch but a chance to win door prizes. A first-time attendee, Catherine Sullivan, a Stratacomm intern won a drone from SMDI, while David Boldt from AOL Autoblog and Joe Koch from the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association scored Amazon gift cards from WAPA.
Thanks To All Who Attended
We thank Dr. Jody Hall, of SMDI, Tina Sullivan from Franco, and Lisa Harrison and Evan Martinez from AISI, American Iron and Steel Institute for presenting and hosting this event to educate WAPA members on the use of today’s Steel in the automotive world.
