Discontinued parts? Nissan says no problem

It is no surprise that when it comes to preserving heritage models, Nissan comes up on top, as the Yokohama-based company has already introduced its Heritage Parts Program parked under the Nismo umbrella. 

Now, Nissan is raising the bar even higher, as they recently developed a new method to utilize robots to produce car parts out of sheet metal without the need for a die.

The process is called dual-sided dieless forming, which involves two synchronized robots working from opposite sides of a sheet metal, using diamond-coated tool to gradually shape the steel. The new dual-sided dieless process is capable of producing parts with complex designs, as opposed to single-sided forming. 

For Nissan’s range of heritage models, this is good news as the company can produce parts for these models even without the die, as all Nissan needs to reproduce older parts are the computer-aided design (CAD) files for it. If the CAD file no longer exists, Nissan says that they can 3D scan a sample.

The new technique could it make commercially viable for Nissan to produce and sell an even wider range of replacement parts in small volume for cars that the company no longer produces, as it was previously not possible due to high upfront costs to develop and make dies for stamped parts.