Partner: MGL s.r.o.
Field: Automotive
MGL is a small family-run company based in Odry that specialises in manufacturing rubber and plastic products, mainly for the automotive and electronics industries. The company’s main products are rubber seal strips, hoses, membranes, rubber bellows, and, most importantly, silent blocks.
A silent block, made of rubber, is an elastic element used in cars and other machinery to dampen vibration and noise. It absorbs and isolates vibrations between fixed parts, such as the engine and the car body or the radiator and its mounting.
Challenge
MGL was given an opportunity to work with a major international manufacturer and supplier of air conditioning and automotive cooling systems components. The company sought a strong partner and supplier of customised silent blocks for the world’s largest automotive manufacturers.
MGL was therefore expected not only to supply the silent blocks but, above all, to develop them independently to the exact specifications required to ensure compatibility with their systems. The parameters required by them can be divided into two groups – mechanical properties (vibration reduction, specific vibration resonance frequencies, resistance to high temperatures, chemical requirements, weight, etc.) and durability (endurance for a certain number of kilometres or years of use).
Despite MGL’s many years of industry expertise, the need for innovation and development on this scale was beyond their current capabilities. Manual prototyping, testing, and modifications were not possible in this case. Nevertheless, they did not refrain from this challenge. They wanted to shift the company from producing mass-produced pieces to being innovators in their field, able to develop customised products based on customer specifications.
As part of communicating its services, the EDIH Ostrava approached MGL with an offer to cooperate with experts from IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center. After an initial meeting, MGL was convinced that the centre’s experts could help them find the right solution.
Cooperation and its results
Due to the complexity of the problem and the required parameters, the cooperation was divided into two phases. “In the first phase, MGL staff and our team focused on creating a complex methodology for developing the silent block based on its required mechanical properties. This included, for example, determining the required material characteristics and creating computational models to predict the behaviour of silent blocks under various conditions,” said Tomáš Karásek, Head of the National Competence Centre in HPC.
The silent block development methodology was successfully designed and tested by combining MGL’s deep industry know-how, the expertise of IT4Innovations experts, and the computing power of supercomputers. This methodology will be used to design the required real-life MGL product for the aforementioned multinational automotive radiator supplier. Thanks to its in-house development, MGL has become a strong business partner.
Thanks to the versatility of the proposed methodology, which can also be applied to other cooling system suppliers, MGL has gained a significant competitive advantage.
The cooperation started in July 2023, and the first phase was completed in January 2024, which is a rapid process given the scale of the work. Thanks to the support of the EDIH Ostrava, MGL’s development costs were reduced by 80%. In addition, the acquired methodology will continue to be used by MGL without additional development costs, and the cooperation has, therefore, helped them to be very cost-effective.
The EDIH Ostrava will continuously cooperate with MGL to use the developed methodology. In addition, in the second phase, the methodology will also be developed to determine the service life of silent blocks.
“We are pleased to have started a strong continuous cooperation with MGL, which has a direct positive impact on their business and at the same time allows experts and researchers from IT4Innovations to be involved in the real-life project,” said Tomáš Karásek, representative of the EDIH Ostrava.
“The cooperation between the family-run MGL company and experts from IT4Innovations under the auspices of the EDIH Ostrava led to the creation of a comprehensive methodology for developing silent blocks for the automotive industry. This methodology gave MGL a significant competitive advantage due to its versatility and ability to adapt to other cooling system suppliers and reduced the development costs by 80%. This cooperation has resulted in a strong partnership and continued support that will enable MGL to maintain a significant market position,” summarised Michael Kalivoda, MGL Company Director and Quality Manager.