Win the quote, then keep the program.
Cost-down and tooling-risk decisions checked before the PPAP clock starts, so launch stays boring.
Book a pre-tooling review →
Tier-1 Supplier Engineering
Win the Quote, Keep the Program — PPAP That's Boring
Your quote is won on weight, cost, and proven capability. Your program is kept on DFM discipline, material selection, and launch execution. ETS gives Tier-1 supplier engineering teams 41 years of plastics design, material, and failure-analysis practice — so the part validates the first time and the PPAP reads like a formality.
Talk to an Engineering Team →Purpose-built for engineering managers, program managers, and design engineers whose names go on the quote and the PPAP.
Cost-DownTooling RiskPPAP / APQPLaunch SupportMaterial SelectionFailure Analysis
The Quote Is Won on Engineering. So Is the Program.
Tier-1 margins live or die on two moments: the quote you submit and the launch you survive. Every ETS engagement is built to make both boring — cost-down you can defend, tooling you cut once, and a PPAP package with no surprises in it.
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Cost-Down That Survives Validation
Metal-to-plastic conversion, part consolidation, and resin rationalization with the failure modes priced in. The industry benchmark is real: ZF's all-plastic stabilizer link cuts weight more than 15% versus steel, and the SPE-award-winning Ford console from Celanese consolidated 50% fewer parts. We teach your team the method, not just the ambition.
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Tooling-Risk Reduction
Warpage, sink marks, weld lines, and draft errors are cheapest to fix before steel is cut. Fixed-price design reviews catch them at the CAD stage — where a change costs hours, not a tool rework and a slipped PPAP date.
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PPAP, APQP & IATF 16949 Discipline
Documentation-grade design rationale your quality system can defend: material selection records, DFM checklists, and failure-mode reasoning written the way your IATF 16949 audits and PPAP submissions actually consume them.
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Launch Support
A senior plastics engineer on call through tool tryout, T1 samples, and runoff — because when the mold opens with a short shot before a ship date, you want the person who has seen it before on the phone, not a search engine.
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Material Selection — Including Recycled
Qualify recycled-content resins without sacrificing performance. TE Connectivity molds production connector components in chemically recycled Ultramid Ccycled polyamide, and Celanese's Zytel ECO-R carries 30%+ recycled content. We teach the selection and qualification method programs like these run on.
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Failure Analysis & Root Cause
Field returns, warranty parts, containment. Warpage, creep, fatigue, environmental stress cracking — root cause found, evidence packaged for your 8D, and the training that stops the failure recurring on the next program.
What Your Engineering Team Takes Back
Seminar, consulting, and academy formats built for supplier engineering orgs that need working methods their program timelines can absorb — not theory.
Live Seminar
Designing Plastic Parts for Assembly — 3 Days, 1,300+ Slides
Structural analysis, material screening, and DFM decision tools, with case histories from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, GM, Chrysler, and Delphi production programs. Taught by Paul A. Tres — SPE Fellow and author of the industry-standard text, now in its 10th edition.
Consulting Retainer
Design Review & Program Support
Fixed-price DFM reviews before tooling kick-off, launch-window support, and a senior engineer on call for the material or process question that doesn't fit neatly on the org chart. Quoted scope, fixed price, NDA first.
ETS Academy
Institutionalize the Method
100+ hours of structured training with monthly coaching, so design, materials, process, and quality engineers align on one methodology across plants and programs — not just whoever was in the room for the most recent course.
ChatETS
The Plastics Answer Engine, Free
Trained on 41 years of ETS failure data. Ask it about a coolant manifold, a high-voltage connector housing, or a warped console armrest and get DFM-grade material and failure answers in seconds. One real question, free, no credit card.
Who We Serve
Tier-1 suppliers are the engineering center of gravity of automotive plastics — and one of the largest single audiences in ETS's engineering community. These are the names where metal-to-plastic conversion, sustainable-material qualification, and restructuring-driven requalification are happening right now.
Chassis & Powertrain
ZF
ZF SOP'd its first Injection Plastic Assembly stabilizer link at Zhangjiagang — an FRP rod with an all-plastic ball-joint housing, more than 15% lighter than the steel part, in mass production within 14 months on a 1.6-million-piece line, with more projects SOP in 2026. Metal-to-plastic conversion isn't a pitch anymore; it's shipping. The teams who win those quotes are the ones who can prove the part survives.
Seating & Interiors
Lear, IAC, Brose
Lear was named Ford's 2026 Supplier of the Year in Sustainability, and its seat-cushion program with Dow and Jaguar Land Rover cuts seat-assembly weight by up to 20% while being designed for end-of-life recyclability. Interior suppliers are now scored on sustainable materials and recyclable design alongside cost — a materials-engineering problem before it's a commercial one.
Exteriors, Modules & Systems
Magna, OPmobility, Hutchinson
Magna won full-vehicle assembly business for two XPENG models at its Graz plant — localization means new tooling and new part development. OPmobility is pivoting its core toward battery enclosures and hydrogen systems. New part families are new qualification gauntlets, and DFM discipline is how you run them.
Electrical & Electronics
TE Connectivity, Aptiv, Molex, Kostal, Bosch, Denso
TE molds connector components in chemically recycled Ultramid Ccycled polyamide; Molex's eHV60 high-voltage connector line ships with validated second sources to de-risk the supply chain; Bosch marked 120 years in the United States on $18.8 billion in 2025 sales; Denso's portfolio spans thermal and powertrain hardware across ICE, hybrid, and every electrified powertrain. Connector housings and E/E enclosures are the fastest-growing polymer surface in the vehicle — and the least forgiving on creep and contact force.
The Restructuring Wave
Continental / AUMOVIO, Aptiv EDS, Schaeffler
Continental spun its automotive sector off as AUMOVIO, a standalone supplier trading on the Frankfurt exchange since September 18, 2025. Aptiv is separating its Electrical Distribution Systems business into an independent company. Schaeffler's integration of Vitesco carries a €290 million synergy target. Every restructuring builds a new sourcing organization — and new organizations re-qualify everything, starting with the engineering capability of their suppliers.
41+
Years of Engineering
500+
Companies Served
19,800+
Engineers Trained
10th
Edition of the Standard Text
The Credential That Survives an OEM Audit
When a customer pivots a platform or re-sources a part, hundreds of components need re-qualifying — and your engineering evidence is what gets you through. The ETS credential is built for exactly that scrutiny.
41 years Inside Automotive Programs
Our data comes from real production programs — not textbooks. Case histories from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, GM, Chrysler, and Delphi. The same failure-analysis discipline that caught issues on those programs is what your team takes into every quote and every PPAP.
Recognition Your Engineers Trust
SPE Automotive Innovation Awards carry real weight in this industry, and we track the winning programs every year — like the 2025 awards, where Celanese's Zytel PA66 Ford sliding console consolidated 50% fewer parts while adding 32.4 liters of storage. We teach the methods behind the winners.
One Method Across Every Powertrain
Suppliers live or die across every powertrain the customer builds. Mahle has battery cooling plates in series production in Spain while carmakers are reviving combustion-car development plans. Your team needs one methodology that holds across ICE, hybrid, and EV duty cycles — that's what we teach.
Built for the people who decide
Whoever signs off, the answer holds up.
A Tier-1 supplier decision crosses four desks before it ships. Here is what ETS gives each of them.
Risk you can put a number on.
A fixed-price pre-tooling review starts at $3,500. One line of the failure ledger costs $10K–$75K once steel is cut. Seats, training and engineering hours can share a single annual agreement.
What a review covers →An expert built for cross-examination.
Fellow of SPE and author of the field’s standard text. Expert-witness work since 1997. A conflict check comes first, and availability, a CV and fees follow within one business day.
Request a conflict check →Simple to buy, easy to audit.
Pay by check, ACH, purchase order or card. Fixed price where applicable, with scope, timeline and quote agreed before work begins, and an NDA signed on request before we see anything.
Start the paperwork →Ready to Make Your Next PPAP Boring?
Tell us about the quote you're chasing or the program you're defending — material, part family, weight or cost target, or a field failure you're chasing down. A senior engineer replies within one business day with a scoped next step, fixed price where applicable, and timeline. Nothing you share leaves ETS; we'll sign an NDA before we look at anything.
Contact Engineering →