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The newly developed SMARTTUFT® covering from Magna
keeping costs down in the automotive industry!
Profitability, sustainability and improved material characteristics – SMARTTUFT® is becoming the new standard for subcompact and compact car segments in the automotive industry. The innovative floor covering was developed by Intier Automotive Eybl. The company is a part of the internationally active automotive supplier Magna. SMARTTUFT® was co-developed by the raw material producers Colbond and Aquafil as well as Groz-Beckert. Find out more about the new possibilities in automotive carpeting!
Magna shows greatness – and relies on Groz-Beckert
Magna is the most diversified automotive supplier in the world, employing more than 102,000 people. The Austro-Canadian company based in Aurora, Ontario was founded in 1957 by Frank Stronach. At the same time the company began with the development and production of deep-formed automotive carpets.
Lower weight, finer gauges
Standard tuft – linear needle arrangement
Magna has progressed rapidly with the development of automotive carpets over the past ten years. Once the gauge 1/10“ Cut Pile with weights greater than 400 gsm was the leading standard product, but today, on the initiative of the OEMs, the standards are considerably higher. Higher, in this regard, means reduced weight and finer gauges. Specifically: weights lower than 300 gsm and gauges of 5/64". Over the past years Magna has mastered this challenge in cooperation with leading raw-material producers like Colbond and Aquafil, as well as Groz-Beckert. The result of this cooperation is the new automotive carpet class of SMARTTUFT®.
Standard tuft: breaks on round areas, unattractive
SMARTTUFT® – The benefits at a glance
Optimized process: staggered needle arrangement, optimal gauges, high covering power
- Up to 50 percent weight savings in relation to standard tufts – through improved use of the gauges
- Improved quality level – best possible covering power
- No breakage on round areas
- Clean edges
- Increased customer satisfaction – thanks to easy-care handling
Optimized tuft: no more breakage, "line effect" eliminated, clean edges
Fully in fashion – especially for smaller cars
The newly-developed floor carpet class SMARTTUFT® is totally suited to the changed requirements of OEMs. While new vehicle registrations in the midsized car segment are stagnating, compact models such as the VW Golf and Opel Astra – and many other compact and subcompact models - are very much in demand. In 2005 the proportion of compact and subcompact vehicles in relation to new car registrations in Germany still lay at around 20 percent – today it is sharply higher than 25 percent. And in other countries the market share is even higher! In 2011, including trucks and busses, over 80,000,000 automobiles were produced. Since 2009, the biggest producer has been China, where traditional demand has been more in favor of smaller vehicles.
This increase in popularity has been accompanied by a further development: despite their compact dimensions, many small car models are requiring premium quality where their equipment is concerned. SMARTTUFT® fulfills these requirements, combining excellent material properties with attractive profitability. Further reduction in floor weights and the optimization of the methods used to achieve this constituted the main focus of the cooperation between Magna, Aquafil, Colbond and Groz-Beckert.
The Groz-Beckert tufting system
Ttailormade for added value
Groz-Beckert tufting systems are optimally tailored to the quality requirements for SMARTTUFT®. On the basis of this, worldwide partners in the industry and also leading tufting-machine producers receive tailormade gauge parts: from the patent-protected needle module (pat.-no. EP 0 976 860 A1) and the reed finger module to the newly-developed cut pile modules and tufting knives.
Feel free to contribute, either now or in the future, to discussing and jointly advancing the further development of SMARTTUFT® automotive carpets with the cooperation partners. Groz-Beckert looks forward to contact with you!