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The increasing rates of violence and the lack of effective public security policies, especially in large urban areas in developing countries, have reflected directly in the automotive civil armor market, making Brazil the world leader in the segment of ballistic protection type III-A level against handguns according to the NIJ 0108.01 standard [1], followed by Mexico. Faced with this scenario, to speed up the armoring process on brand new automobiles, the armoring companies have adopted shop floor procedures to quickly assembly the ballistic protection parts, without considering automotive design engineering and manufacturing criteria of the vehicle. One of the solutions for improving the quality of this process and optimizing costs is the adoption of the DFMA® tool, Design for Manufacturing and Assembly.

Brazil for more than two decades is the largest producer of civilian armored vehicles in the world, where in 2018 almost 12,000 new vehicles received this type of protection in the country, contributing to an estimated armored fleet reaching almost 220 thousand units. In 2019, there was an estimated growth of between 20% and 25% compared to the previous year, where premium segment vehicles characterize the majority of civilian armored vehicles. In this context, this paper presents an overview, in the country, of the main models of civilian vehicles that are armored at ballistic protection type III-A level against handguns, according to the NIJ 0108.01 standard, from the National Institute of Justice of the United States. In this sense, just as automakers adopt DFM and DFA, Design for Manufacturing and Design for Assembly, as part of their vehicle developments, the purpose of this paper is to present and propose the addition of DFAr, Design for Armoring in premium vehicle projects.

Brazil is the largest civilian armored vehicle market in the world with more than 16,000 new protected units produced in 2018, followed by Mexico with 7,000 automobiles, according to Brazilian Army (BA) data. In this context, this paper presents an overview of Brazilian market for civilian vehicle armoring, definitions and characteristics of transparent and opaque ballistic resistance protective materials according to U. S. Department of Justice, the National Institute of Justice, NIJ Standard 0108.01. Based on this premises, the paper addresses basic technical requirements for ballistic safety in design and process to guarantee minimum quality of armoring services. The purpose of this paper is to safeguard the original features and functionality of the automotive components while simultaneously providing recommended ballistic protection of the vehicle with quality.

The aim of this paper is to present the technical and economic considerations in the development of projects of front and rear bumpers fascias for passenger vehicles in the automotive industry. Regarding to the technical issues addressed, there are: choice of the raw material, viable criteria of style surface and engineering, thermoplastic injection criteria, structural analysis, feasibility of assembly on the factory and after-sale, fixation concepts and many others. Regarding to the economical context, were evaluated: project and production costs, repairability costs, shock parking, components lifetime and communization. Based on the experience in previous projects and on the scientific literature, and applying the considerations presented, alternative ways of conducting bumper development projects are proposed.

Nowadays, the increasing use of plastic in the automotive industry complies with the desires of weight and cost reduction, material recyclability and increased performance. Today you can find plastic components in almost all subsystems of the vehicle, including the engine compartment, the interior cabin to the outside of the vehicle. Apart from the low weight, which can be translated to lower fuel consumption, the customer also gains with a gradual increase of plastic impact resistance due to the latest developments. It also contributes to automakers design and production versatility, useful life and keeping part quality related to steel (there is no corrosion). Faced with this scenario, the purpose of this paper is to introduce an automotive injection moulding plastic component methodology in order to obtain technical and economical benefits of the latest designs with reduced part development time, reduced tooling costs, flexibility and design of style and quality.

In the early 1990s, Brazilian automotive industries have testified a new scenario with a competitiveness increased due to the establishment of foreign companies, which forced them to follow new strategies to maintain its competitiveness in the market. Innovation and quality become priority, as well as new technologies and product cost optimization. More specifically, the focus on current automotive products cost reduction is nowadays one of the most important strategies to provide significant increase in profits and market share of companies. The purpose of this paper is to introduce case studies and the technical and economical benefits of product optimization process applied in current automotive components, where the requirements of quality maintenance, performance and cost reductions are emphasized.