thyssenkrupp Steel presents innovative door ring solution at Blechexpo 2025

At this year's Blechexpo, the leading trade fair for sheet metalworking and processing held from October 21 to 24, 2025 in Stuttgart, thyssenkrupp Steel will be presenting an innovative solution for the automotive industry – the door ring. This technology has the potential to significantly simplify the lightweight body construction of the future while at the same time increasing efficiency – without compromising on safety.

The door ring is part of the InPart Solutions concept – one of thyssenkrupp Steel's solutions for specifically reducing complexity in vehicle production. The aim is to cut down material usage, joining operations, and production costs through component integration. As part of a holistic approach to lightweight construction, the door ring demonstrates how performance, efficiency, and sustainability can be combined in vehicle production. The development work took place in close cooperation with Baosteel Tailored Blanks, a long-standing partner for customized shaped blanks and joining technologies.

Simplified production, increased performance

The door ring produced from only a single tailored blank replaces up to eight individual parts in the vehicle structure. "Our solution not only optimizes production costs, but also reduces the weight and complexity of vehicle production," explains Dr. Thomas Böttcher, Head of Application Concepts at thyssenkrupp Steel. "By integrating several components into a single part, manufacturers can simplify their production processes and, at the same time, increase the performance of their vehicles."

The solution is based on a customized blank that consists of different types of steel with locally varying properties such as thickness, strength, and coating. This means that high-strength materials such as the MBW^® 1200+AS, MBW^® 1500 and MBW^® 1900+AS Pro grades are always used exactly where they are needed most for crash safety and lightweight construction. MBW^® manganese-boron steels with strengths of up to 1,900 MPa ensure maximum material efficiency. Simulations with the reference body of a compact vehicle show that weight savings of up to 5.8 kilograms per vehicle are possible with this approach. The particular technological challenges in the production of the door ring – such as the large material thickness jumps – are mastered using innovative processes such as the GONAtech^® welding process which makes it possible to weld blanks without having to remove their coating, helping to reduce costs.

Potential for more sustainable automotive construction

"We ensure that the door ring is not only efficient but also sustainable by combining high-performance materials and customized production techniques. For us, this is the way to a more climate-friendly automotive industry," Dr. Böttcher continues. In addition to the advantages in production, the door ring also offers the potential to reduce CO₂ emissions over the entire life cycle, as less material is required than in conventional vehicle structures, while the lower vehicle weight contributes to a reduction in CO₂ emissions during the utilization phase.

The close cooperation with the Duisburg-based partner company Baosteel Tailored Blanks in developing the door ring also shows how thyssenkrupp Steel, as a partner to the automotive industry, not only supplies innovative materials but also offers customized solutions for modern production processes. In doing so, the steelmaker is supporting the industry's transformation toward production that is more sustainable and efficient.

At Blechexpo 2025, thyssenkrupp Steel will give a thorough presentation of its innovations relating to the door ring, along with many other topics, and will explain in detail how the innovative concept can be used to gear up automotive production for the future in terms of efficiency, lightweight construction, and sustainability. Interested visitors can find out more about this from October 21 to 24 in hall 10, booth 10406.