New Parts for Old Cars.

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Author: Thilmany, Jean1

ENGINEERS AT UP INDUSTRIES sometimes think of themselves as plastic surgeons to the auto industry. They manufacture composite parts that make vehicles look good, says the company's director.

UP Industries, located in Braeside in Victoria, Australia, makes composite automotive parts to complement its more established product design. Patternmaking, and toolmaking operations The company sells styling kits, called CR2, which contain composite parts that can be affixed to second hand cars.

For the parts, the company uses a urethane resin method developed by Mam Riederich, who founded UP Industries with his brother, Jogi.

The styling-kit concept came about when the company was faced with a quiet period.

"To tide us over the reduced amount of work, we decided that we should produce our own parts and use them to raise the value of some secondhand cars," said Eric Schell, the director.

"We then managed to sell our idea to Ford and were commissioned to produce front and rear bumpers and grilles for its Falcon AU model," he said "Since then, we've become plastic surgeons to the local automotive industry."

Typically. UP Industries creates part data in CAD software For the composites projects, engineers use the PowerShape CAD system from Delcam Inc of Birmingham, England Engineers create the composite resin cavity and core within this system.

They produce a master sample and fit the part to discover design discrepancies. The composite part is then machined with help from computer-aided manufacturing software, called PowerMill, also from Delcam.

The Ford Falcon features composite front and rear bumpers from supplier UP Industries, which has found a niche making these composite parts.

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By Jean Thilmany, Associate Editor