UK Proving Factory for low emission vehicles

Tata Steel, one of Europe's largest steel suppliers, is exhibiting at the Low Carbon Vehicle event (LCV 2013) as part of The Proving Factory, a unique manufacturing, assembly and validation organisation for the UK automotive industry.

The Proving Factory partnership has taken over an entire hall with its exhibit and will demonstrate to visitors how it is credibly bridging the current market gap between technology developers making innovative, low-carbon prototypes and the needs of vehicle manufacturers for volume supply.

The steel supplier is playing a leading role in The Proving Factory, both on a strategic and practical level. A new, dedicated facility at Tata Steel's Brinsworth site in Rotherham will manufacture the low-carbon vehicle components designed by the technology developers, and will also assist with producing the materials needed for these components. The new technologies require materials which have both high strength at high temperatures, for coping with the extreme conditions experienced within the equipment, but which retain the machinability to produce the parts needed.

Tata Steel is able to provide a complete service from system design and testing, through to supply-chain development. The Company has a commitment to low- carbon vehicle technologies, and through its Environmental Technology Department in Rotherham, produces market-leading research on the environmental impact of different materials, and optimising vehicles to be both safe and structurally sound, while meeting stringent emissions regulations.

The Proving Factory - a €21.8M automotive industry initiative - was launched in February to bring much-needed low-carbon vehicle technologies from design to inception, at the volumes required by manufacturers.

The Proving Factory aims to create a new, trusted manufacturing, assembly and validation environment and facilities for SME (small and medium enterprise) technology developers, major vehicle manufacturers and their first tier supply partners, that brings new, low-carbon products through to manufacture at global automotive cost and quality standards. The Proving Factory will manufacture low-volume advanced technologies for vehicle manufacturers, with a target of up to 20000 units per annum for multiple products, with a maximum annual capacity of 200k units.