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Friction Drilling in the automotive industry

Safely revolutionize your production process and replace rivets, welding, or press nuts

As an ambitious and forward-thinking engineer, your goal is to design durable, high-quality components that are as lightweight as possible. That means avoiding production errors and boosting efficiency.

You know better than anyone that sustainability plays an increasingly important role in this process. And your decisions directly affect the cost-effectiveness of production.

What if there was a solution for missed inserts, slipping, preventing expensive rework and say goodbye to design limitations?

The most important questions for automotive designers, answered quickly.

A Flowdrill (friction drilling) connection is generally stronger than conventional fastening methods, especially in thin-walled material and in applications with moving or vibrating components. Unlike blind rivet nuts, which tend to loosen more quickly under vibration, a Flowdrill connection remains solid and reliable.

Yes, absolutely. The friction drilling process forms a bushing that can be up to three times the thickness of the original material. This creates a strong thread without requiring thick base material. It saves both weight and cost, making it ideal for strong, lightweight constructions.

Yes, Flowdrill can be excellently integrated into automated production processes, including robotic welding environments. We actively support customers with this and maintain strong relationships with experienced machine builders, including those in the automotive industry.

Tackling Your Biggest Challenges

Traditional fastening methods create problems

Rivets, weld nuts, and press nuts often lead to issues such as:

  • High costs
  • Design limitations
  • Missing inserts
  • Loose connections
  • Expensive post-processing

All of which reduce the efficiency of your production process.

The solution: Friction Drilling

Using only the base material, Flowdrill offers an alternative that:

  • Reduces production costs
  • Simplifies your manufacturing process
  • Supports more sustainable production

No extra fasteners or welding required.

Relevance for electric, combustion engine, and lightweight vehicles

We actively support our customers in making cars lighter and leading the electrification race, two major advancements in the global automotive sector!

Flowdrill’s ‘chipless’ friction drilling aids suppliers and automakers in avoiding rework. Friction drilling also helps reduce the weight of structures. Regardless of whether the component is used in body structures, interiors, or battery frames.

Where can you find Flowdrill in vehicles?

Flowdrill: Your Partner in bringing your products and manufacturing to the next level.

Flowdrill has extensive experience with global OEMs and their supply chains. Design lightweight, strong products while ensuring sustainability and cost-efficiency. Friction drilling effortlessly boosts the quality and efficiency of your production process.

Automotive giants like Mercedes, Audi, Ford, BMW, and Magna trust Flowdrill’s friction drilling technology to streamline their production

Flowdrill & ISO 9001: Annual Certification

Flowdrill achieves ISO 9001 certification every year, the global standard for quality management. This guarantees:

  • Consistent quality – essential for OEMs and suppliers.
  • Efficient processes – less waste, shorter lead times.
  • Reliable validation – faster transition from prototype to production.
  • Maximum delivery reliability – always the right products on time.

What do our customers say?

“From the start, Flowdrill experts dedicated time to understanding our issue. They explored how their unique friction drilling technology could be the solution. Working with the automotive sector is complex, but together we showed Volkswagen that the process worked. Importantly, it would deliver ‘part price’ savings.” – Paul Goacher, Programme Manager at Gestamp Tallent

Not completely convinced yet? Request our free sample block

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2. Receive Your Sample Block 

3. Experience first hand

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