All of the NAAMS Pt 1: What is NAAMS?

NAAMS stands for North American Automotive Metric Standard.  The official full name is NAAMS Global Standard Components and Assemblies.  The evolution of NAAMS begins in 1991 out of 2 initiatives from the Auto/Steel Partnership.  They were looking for ways to reduce cost in both stamping die components and body-in-white sheet steel in the automotive manufacturing industry, out came 2 groups:  Stamping Tooling Standardization and Assembly Tooling Standardization.  It was a collaborative effort and their main goal was to create proposals on how to standardize while reducing cost. And of course, all without losing quality or performance.

Automotive manufacturers such as Chrysler, Ford and General Motors and suppliers such as Dayton Progress, Lamina, Danly IEM, and Sankyo Oilless Industry USA became participants in the initiatives.  They were the reason NAAMS is in metric dimensions, it was the unit of measurement they all adopted.  Having these competing brands under one roof called for an anti-trust compliance, it included restrictions such as no discussions of sale prices and only focusing on the design envelopes.  This allowed them to discuss manufacturing collaboratively as each company wishes to reduce cost.

Eventually, the name North American Automotive Metric Standards(NAAMS) was used.  The standards started gaining momentum in North America but Europe was hesitant to adopt the name.  Therefore, the official name became what it is today: NAAMS Global Standard Components – Stamping and NAAMS Global Standard Components – Assembly.

NAAMS has reduced costs for the automotive industry in many ways.  It has given them the flexibility to order from a different supplier as long as they have adapted NAAMS.  Designers no longer need to worry about working with the various suppliers to meet part specifications since NAAMS has been adopted.  This cuts down on precious design time.  Inventory costs can be decreased with the use of NAAMS, as well.

Currently, as of 2010, the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) oversees the NAAMS initiative.  Chrysler LLC, General Motors, and Ford maintain NAAMS collaboratively.  They are responsible for describing and defining components used in Stamping Dies and Tooling.  These Dies and Tooling are a part of the vehicle body and assembly production process where sheet metal products are either produced or welded.

You can find all of the drawings and specifications of NAAMS Global Standard Components and Assembly at www.naamsstandards.org.  Drawings are dated for the latest revisions.  You can even find NAAMS design drawing standards and tolerances.

Many of these NAAMS parts can even be used outside of the automotive industry.  The NAAMS initiative has become a way of life for many engineers.  Perhaps it can be found that designers in the automotive industry that venture into different industries can utilize these parts to match their design needs.  Design engineering can require a lot of creativity.  Engineers find themselves constantly thinking outside the box and with the NAAMS initiative engineer’s can certainly expand their horizons.

Cover Photo from NAAMSstandards.org