The NAAMS Initiatives — A Brief Summary

The NAAMS programs grew out of two A/SP initiatives that were begun in 1991. The Stamping Cost Reduction Group was chartered to address cost reduction for stamping die components; the Assembly Cost Reduction Group was chartered to address cost reduction for the components in the tools used to fabricate sheet steel bodies-in-white, front-end sheet steel and closures. Several years later the names of these initiatives were changed to Stamping Tooling Standardization and Assembly Tooling Standardization to reflect more accurately that they proposed to reduce cost without compromising quality or performance through standardization.

The advantages of standardizing tooling components among the North American based auto companies was recognized by all participants: reduction in the time and cost required to design and build tools. In addition to standardization, the participating companies agreed that all dimensions should be in the metric system rather than the U.S. Customary, or inch based system, because the participating companies were converting to metric.

Collaboration & Anti-Trust Compliance

The joint efforts by companies who are competitors in the market place have been conducted within the same framework as cooperative efforts in other industries. Compliance with anti-trust restrictions of the federal government is ensured by:

• Keeping all discussions focused on the pre-competition level, specifically the design and fabrication of tooling components.
• Refraining from any discussions of the sale price of components or services.
• Focusing on design envelopes, which ensures interchangeability among suppliers while allowing them to retain competitive advantages.
• Ensuring that all affected suppliers are notified of standardization activities and the interests of each participating company are adequately addressed.
• Requiring that all meetings be held under the supervision of USCAR with at least one USCAR staff person present.

Stamping Standards History

The Stamping initiative adopted the name North American Automotive Metric Standards and used the acronym NAAMS. Participants have included representatives from Ford, General Motors, Stellantis and suppliers such as Danly IEM, Dayton Progress, Lamina, Dadco, and Sankyo Oiless Industry USA. The Team was chaired from its inception until March, 2002 by Douglas James of Dayton Progress. Upon Doug's retirement from Dayton, Gary Amin of Ford became chairman until 2022. Scott Holden of General Motors is the current chairman.

The Stamping standards were first published in book form on behalf of the A/SP by the Auto Industry Action Group (AIAG) in January 1995 under the title North American Automotive Metric Standards — Forming & Stamping.

Assembly Standards History

The Assembly Standards were first published in book form by AIAG in March, 1996 under the title North American Automotive Metric Standards — Assembly & Fabrication. The assembly team was originally chaired by John Ausilio, then Gary Bode for 16 years, and currently by Ken Taylor.

Transition to Web

In 1997 both sets of standards were placed on the A/SP website to facilitate making changes as needed and making the standards available free of charge to anyone who wants them. When it became obvious that people did not naturally go to the A/SP website to find the NAAMS standards, a new website address was launched: www.naamsstandards.org.

Global Impact

The standards immediately gained wide acceptance in North America, but the auto companies reported resistance in Europe due to the words "North American" in the title. The names were subsequently changed to NAAMS Global Standard Components — Stamping and NAAMS Global Standard Components — Assembly and the logos were changed accordingly. The new titles eliminated the North American association and retained the widely recognized NAAMS acronym.

Typical estimates for NAAMS savings are "Design and build in less time than it used to take to design", "Upwards of $30,000,000 per program" and "Essential to our corporate reduced-time-to-market objectives".

The foregoing is a brief summary of how the NAAMS Stamping and Assembly Standards are making a major contribution in reducing the cost and time required to bring vehicles produced by Ford, GM and Stellantis to the marketplace. At the same time, they are helping to keep steel the material of choice in automotive bodies-in-white, closures and front end sheet metal.