It has been few months since the COVID-19 crisis provoked an historic fall in vehicle sales worldwide. Obviously, life in this pandemic era obliges us to comply with social distancing guidelines which is increasing the preference and desire for people to use private transport options. It is therefore reasonable to expect that the demands for private passenger vehicles will increase In New Normal/post COVID-19 era. 

The remarkable observation of the reduction in the global greenhouse gas emissions and pollution during the shutdowns will also create further personal, industrial, and political responsibilities and efforts to develop and use more environmentally friendly vehicles.  One can expect then that the demand for Electrical Vehicle (EV), Autonomous Electric Vehicles (AEVs) and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) will grow. Indeed, even if the sector is currently suffering from the crisis, its future in New Normal/post COVID-19 seems to be promising.

The lessons learned from the brutal disruption in the supply chain by the crisis will also increase the demands of OEMs and the governments for local alternatives that necessarily localise some parts of the supply chain in the geographical zones where the OEMs are located, in particular in the EU and in NAFTA. This situation could transform the current globalisation supply chain structure and convert it into a federation of some geographically limited smaller Tech Ecosystems with semi-independent supply chains. In this case, the OEMs will need new suppliers and new technologies within their geopolitical zones.

In New Normal/post COVID-19 era, exciting new business and innovation opportunities will break through for the component manufacturing industry with an indispensable focus on FLEXIBILITY, AGILITY, VERSATILITY and CAPABILITY, not only in the supply chain but also in the core the manufacturing process technologies. 

Unlike the business model and production chains, DEGITALISATION is not enough for the core manufacturing processes to gain flexibility, agility, and capacity.

Furthermore, the need to strengthen their resilience against this type of crisis, component manufacturers need to:  decrease the production cost, increase their ability to make productively more geometrically complex, lighter, functional and multi-material components, form new required light materials and alloys, along with increasing their competitive edge, among others, for their survival in this new Tech Ecosystem. These needs have already placed new technological, scientific and engineering challenges in front of component manufacturers.

The digitalisation of the production lines will facilitate increased productivity but it cannot address the technical challenges stated above for material forming processes. The studies and trials carried out by the 3DmetDie team demonstrate that much more productivity and flexibility can be gained by introducing the concepts of Industry 4.0 into the manufacturing process itself. Also, operating within an industry 4.0 conceptual framework is an unavoidable requirement for the supply chain partners involved in the manufacture of new component for OEMs in the post COVID-19 world and this process also needs to be environmentally friendly. INDUSTRY 4.0 could effectively be the hobbyhorse for addressing the technical and productivity challenges of this period and shortening the recovering time.

For the manufacturing processes that involve heat transfer, the implementation of the concepts of industry 4.0 differs are broader than simply digitalisation of the processes but the rather a more integrated approach requiring a change to our perception and understanding.  The industry 4.0 approach  should incorporate many complex tools and practices including : Machine Learning, 3Dprinting, smart sensors and instrumentation techniques, capturing the governing data, creating the Big Data, remote communication of that data, Internet of things (IoT), reliable algorithms and analytical models to process the data, real time monitoring of the process and product quality, new tooling design, along with the related technical and scientific requirements for effective Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

3DmetDie was established one and a half years ago, to capitalise on two decades of research and innovations in developing smart sensors, instrumentation techniques, analytical modelling, data acquisition and the related analysis, advanced algorithms, advanced materials and designs for tooling and forming processes, process and production cost optimisation, the formability of new materials and functionally graded components and more. 3DmetDie is very motivated and well equipped to play its role in this technological jump and is in a good position to enable component manufacturers to address the challenges of the New Normal/post COVID-19 manufacturing world and to help manufacturers to make the most of the new related business opportunities.