Horizons Customer Magazine 2025
Technology Leadership in Function Critical Seating Components
Everyone Sits
ICE or BEV. Hybrid or Hydrogen. City car or Pickup. By definition, every person in every type of vehicle sits. That seat needs to be a host of things: comfortable, secure, reliable, strong and—increasingly—versatile. Automotive seating technology has developed alongside and because of drivetrain technology. Over the last five to ten years, interior fit and finish and the level of amenities expected by modern car buyers has skyrocketed. At the same time, increased fuel economy standards and attempting to extend the range for alternative powertrains have driven “lightweighting”— competing requirements that combine to complicate seating design dramatically.
Feintool has been at the forefront of seating component production at every turn and has helped customers navigate the challenges of producing modern seating systems successfully for decades. “Feintool has evolved into a global leader in seating,” explains Lars Reich, Business Until Leader Forming & Fineblanking Europe, CSO. “We’re very strong in the Asian and North American markets and we have some unique tooling solutions along with interesting technical developments in Europe. Our global network allows us to help customers around the world with local support.”
"Feintool has evolved into a global leader in seating. Our global network allows us to help customers around the world with local support.”
Lars Reich
Business Unit Leader Forming & Fineblanking Europe, CSO
The Earlier the Better–Design, Simulation & Prototyping
A significant factor in Feintool’s success is forming true partnerships with customers, working together before the first 3D model is started or prototype is created. Tier one seating suppliers regularly approach Feintool to consult on designs and materials, knowing that we have extensive experience in producing the most complex seating assemblies that meet and exceed all industry standards at the lowest cost possible.
Seating suppliers are seeing the efficiencies possible when they move to outsourcing component manufacturing, focusing instead on the complete system and allowing companies like Feintool to deliver optimized, critical components. This makes the decision to collaborate early on the designs of parts like latches, height adjusters, guide plates, seat hearts, cams and pawls even more sensible.
After the initial design discussions, components most often move into finite element analysis (FEA) simulation. Feintool’s FEA simulation systems’ capabilities have been proven out extensively. Reich explains, “We compare simulations to the prototypes and often see identical results. In some “edge” cases where we see potential for deviation from the modeling, we move to prototyping and feed the physical results back into the model improve it further. We’ve reached a level of confidence and precision where we have been able to move some components from design to production without going into prototype or soft tooling.”
Simulations allow Feintool to determine the answers to a plethora of questions on how best to approach production:
- What’s the tooling concept?
- What aspects are formed in each station?
- Do we form the part from the top or bottom?
- Do we precut?
- Can we go two-, three- or four-up? More?
- How best to optimize vertical progressive
tooling?
Simulation provides results that allow comparisons to answer all these questions and more, allowing engineers to iterate to the ideal tooling solution. Instead of bouncing back and forth between CAD models of different designs and modeling, Feintool’s current FEA tools allow iterations inside the tool itself to make improvements in the part design that can then be moved back into the final CAD model for production, it has become and integrated part of the development and design process.
Priorities, Pressures & Production
The push to lightweight, alongside the pressure to cut costs, means customers want thinner and stronger material. Minimizing part size and costs as much as possible while retaining all the required strength requires new, stronger materials. These materials present forming challenges that are not easily understood or overcome. Using simulation and prototyping hand-in-hand, Feintool works with customers to deliver functional critical net-shape parts that work.
In production, Feintool is often able to offer incredible cost and time savings for customers by using existing universal tools to serve as the basis for new active elements for a given part. Building only the active elements dramatically cuts the time and cost required to get a component into production—without any sacrifice in quality. The volume and variety of seating components that Feintool handles pays off in drastically shortened ramp-ups using this method. Many times, competitors can deliver excellent prototypes, but fall short when it comes to delivering production parts on schedule to the same quality levels. Feintool’s combination of extensive automotive expertise, proven simulation tools and prototyping capabilities ensure maximum output and efficiency when production starts.
As always, the advantages of the fineblanking process also contributes to the ability to produce net-shape, minimally sized parts. “If you have a tooth lock that engages the tooth plate of a seat recliner, for example, you want to have the absolute maximum contact surface because that’s what transfers the load in a crash,” explained Reich. “We don’t have much die roll, so we lose very little of the flank of the tooth—less than 5% compared to 20-25% for other processes—so the entirety of all teeth is engaged.”
Fineblanking & Fine Element Analysis
The finite element analysis tools developed by Feintool model the flow of metal during the fineblanking process. Specifically, the metallurgical phenomenon particular to this process have been integrated into the tools predict the effects on the metal during the press. Working out of Switzerland, Feintool has partnered with some of the most prestigious universities in Europe to refine and improve their FEA tools to streamline our fineblanking production processes. With the concurrent pressures for lightweighting and cost reduction, these simulation tools are critical to producing the most efficient parts possible, saving customers time and money while meeting all the critical functional requirements.
Chimney FEA cross-section and actual cross- section from FEA/chimney doc
Chimney FEA cross-section and actual cross- section from FEA/chimney doc
Another advantage of the Feintool fineblanking process for seat component production is the ability to form high-strength steels in without cracking. This is becoming increasingly vital as designers push for more and more parts to be made from these advanced steels. While high-strength steel may be more expensive as a base material, it’s mainly used to eliminate secondary heat treatment processes after forming. Heat treatment has two big disadvantages:
- Cost. Heat treating is an additional operation that’s very costly to include in the production flow. The logistics of moving all of the formed parts to and through heat treating add up very quickly.
- Distortion. If you heat a metal component, physics tells you it’s likely to distort. That distortion in the final part must be accommodated in the design and production process.
A perfect example of Feintool’s prowess in forming high-strength steel is the ability create higher and stronger chimneys without cracking or dimensional issues. These chimneys have tremendous strength requirements and have become more and more problematic to form with the push to thinner material, smaller parts and higher strength steels. Some parts have chimneys that are two and a half times the height of the material thickness and can be formed reliably at high stroke rates. This gives the designers a lot of freedom, knowing that Feintool tooling can move material this way in an almost plastic, three-dimensional way. “Fifteen years ago, I don’t think anyone would have imagined some of the parts that we produce now,” pointed out Reich. “So much forming is happening inside such a small space in the tool, without cracking or dimensional problems.”
Relax & Recline–in the Back?
Everyone in the vehicle now wants to recline. Where we saw fixed second and third rows in the past, modern vehicles, especially SUVs and minivans, now have captain’s chairs that recline and have other adjustments. Further, the seat belts for these seats are often being built into the seats themselves, rather than the vehicle body, putting additional strength requirements on the seat structure. On top of that, many seats fold into the floor of the vehicle to increase cargo space when not in use. All these features can also be powered as well, even further complicating designs.
Seating systems have evolved from simple metal brackets to complex mechanisms with multiple hinges, locks, pawls, adjusters, cams, etc. Reich points out, “One modern vehicle now can require as many seating components as half a dozen vehicles in the past. Cost savings in seating component production now compound quickly and fineblanking shines as an ideal solution for production of these critical parts.”
“Fifteen years ago, I don’t think anyone would have imagined some of the parts that we produce now. So much forming is happening inside such a small space in the tool, without cracking or dimensional problems.”
Critical, Crack-Free Chimneys
Chimneys in seating components are critically important design features that lend significant strength and functionality to many types of parts. Cracks in chimneys are always a risk to the integrity of the part with the potential to grow in use and compromise the seat’s structural integrity. Parts can be sorted and checked via a quality control (QC) system, but a process which is stable and avoids cracking altogether is the best solution. Using a QC process to check for bad parts in an inferior solution that does not add any value and increases scrap costs as it attempts to minimize risk. Producing quality parts consistently should be the focus and Feintool has the process to deliver.
The difference is stark in these high-strength steel tall chimney examples. Cracking due to the inferior forming process, if not caught in a QC process, could cause catastrophic issues in use.
Planning, Purchasing, and Production Risks
There are three significant types of risk when it comes to manufacturing any seating component: planning, purchasing and production risks. Issues in any one category can be problematic. Running into trouble in more than one can be utterly catastrophic for a vehicle program.
Earlier in this piece, we mentioned the importance of brining Feintool in as early as possible in the planning and design cycle, even before the first CAD model has been started. With the deep, wide-ranging experience our experts bring to bear across so many different OEMs, vehicle types, seating designs, etc., Feintool can provide guidance that saves time and money from the very outset of a new seating system design. “Customers have come to us with completed designs where we can immediately tell that certain aspects are not properly optimized or may not work at all, based on our prior experience with similar parts and/or materials,” laments Reich. “Consulting early in the design, Feintool could have saved them 10-15% on cost or avoided an issue like excess operational noise, cracking or lack of strength. These are opportunities lost, where that customer should have leveraged our expertise to start with a cheaper, better performing, more manufacturable part.”
Unfortunately, when it comes time to move to production, companies have found that they didn’t do enough due diligence in purchasing, introducing significant risk into their program. It’s a very different thing to build 100 prototypes than to produce three million recliners a year, for example. Scalability is where many manufacturers struggle mightily, and extremely compressed timelines for purchasing decisions have contributed to many of these missteps. A competitor may come in, put two or three good prototypes on a purchasing agent’s desk and the agent makes their decision based on those prototypes. In doing so, they’re failing to acknowledge the enormous risk that has been introduced if they start seeing part failures in the late stages, so close to SOP. At this point, when the parts are not dimensionally correct or the manufacturer has delivery issues, the customer has a serious problem.
“One modern vehicle now can require as many seating components as half a dozen vehicles in the past. Cost savings in seating component production now compound quickly and fineblanking shines as an ideal solution for production of these critical parts.”
Feintool is able to deliver millions of parts reliably because it is a partner for the long term. All industries are rife with shortsighted companies looking for short-term cost savings and maximizing immediate profits, and they struggle. Feintool, and the customers that partner with us, know that true success lies in an ongoing, mutually beneficial partnership. A partnership where investing in collaboration early on pays off in long-term efficiency, lower cost, smoother production, and better parts in the long run. Major programs are multi-year commitments, it makes sense to partner with companies who take the long view and make the necessary investments. Reliability and trust build healthy balance sheets.
Feintool’s global footprint allows us to deliver local solutions for our customers: 17 plants, three technology centers and tool rooms with prototyping capability in Europe, North America, and Asia. We are constantly looking to the future and monitoring developments in the industry while continuing to strategically expand—our operation in India is planned to be running by 2026, for example.
Our stellar reputation, long-term partnerships, and our ability to deliver millions of functional critical seating components every day around the world prove that Feintool is the global leader in seating component manufacturing.