AISI and Students Launch Steel Wheel Design Project

This is a year of innovation for the successful AISI/College for Creative Studies (CCS) partnership. The just-completed AISI/CCS Summer Internship Program integrated design and engineering students in a partnership that resulted in stunning concept vehicles. And now AISI's Wheels Task Force has teamed up with senior transportation design students from CCS to launch a project that challenges students to develop a new generation of 18-20 inch highly styled steel wheels.

The new design project has been integrated into the CCS curriculum. It offers the students an opportunity to partner with top wheel suppliers, OEMs and steel companies for a five-week intensive course project. The objective is for the students to design highly styled 18-20 inch covers for the steel wheels on popular SUVs.

Here's how it works: Members from AISI's Wheels Task Force provide a high-vent steel wheel design and design/background information typically shared only with OEM wheel stylists. The students use this material for their projects, which includes successful technical developments in the Hayes-Lemmerz Flex Wheel and the ArvinMeritor SuperSpoke wheel and information on permanent and removable trim products. The project will showcase the significant gains that steel wheels can deliver to automakers through styling, higher-profit margins, lower warranty costs, competitive weight and ruggedness. At the end of the project, the students will provide AISI with ideation sketches, cross-section drawings and digital renderings.

Ron Krupitzer, vice president of automotive applications for AISI, said: "The steel wheels project is a natural extension of our industry's longstanding partnership with the College for Creative Studies. The Wheels Project students will gain real-world experience with access to experts and technology in the field. But most importantly, their work will impact the growing styled wheel market, which is opening up significantly for steel."

The unveiling of the new styled steel wheel design will be held October 11, 2006. For more information, contact Deanna Lorincz.

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