Third Keynote Announced for SPE ACCE 2019 - Composites on the New Chevrolet Corvette

Media Contact: Teri Chouinard, SPE Auto. Div. Comm. Chair 248.701.8003, teri@intuitgroup.com.

Edward D. Moss – Engineering Group Manager (EGM) for Corvette Body Structure, General Motors Company 

TROY (DETROIT), MICH. - The executive planning committee for the SPE® Automotive Composites Conference & Expo (ACCE) is announcing the third keynote speaker for their 19th annual event September 4 – 6, 2019 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, Mich. in the Detroit suburbs. 

Edward D. Moss, Engineering Group Manager (EGM) for Corvette Body Structure, will present “Composites on the New Chevrolet Corvette”. The presentation will highlight the use of composites on the new 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. The 2020 Stingray maintains Corvette’s signature aluminum frame, innovative Sheet Molding Compound (SMC) and carbon fiber underbody components and the SPE award-winning lightweight exterior SMC body panels.

“The Corvette continues to lead the automotive industry in the use of lightweight composites,” said Moss. “Precise and powerful, the Corvette Stingray has been redesigned from the ground up to deliver a thrill on every drive,” added Moss.

The body structure boasts many innovative elements to become the stiffest Corvette ever, utilizing lightweight composites to integrate functional elements into its form. The 2020 Stingray introduces the automotive industry’s first curved, multi-hollow, pultruded carbon fiber bumper beam.The new Corvette also offers class-leading storage for a mid-engine vehicle. It features front and rear storage units that are constructed of an industry-first “Float SMC”, which boasts a specific gravity less than 1.0.  The jewel to the car’s setting, the all-new LT2 V-8 engine, is visible through a large window mounted to the low-density SMC rear hatch.

In addition to daily keynote presentations, the three-day ACCE features approximately 90 technical presentations, 3 keynote presentations, 2 panel discussions, and 80 sponsors with 60 exhibiting advances in materials, processes, and equipment for both thermoset and thermoplastic composites in a wide variety of transportation applications.  Daily networking breakfasts, lunches and cocktail receptions enhance the value of the event that attracts over 900 attendees worldwide.The Automotive and Composites Divisions of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE®) jointly produce the ACCE to educate the industry about the benefits of composites in automotive, light and heavy-duty truck, off-highway vehicles and other ground transportation applications.

The technical presentations (30 min. ea.) are organized into the following categories: Advances in Thermoplastic Composites; Advances in Thermoset Composites; Virtual Prototyping, Testing & Modeling; Reinforcement Technologies; Additive Manufacturing & 3D Printing; Enabling Technologies; Sustainable Composites; Bonding, Joining & Finishing; Opportunities & Challenges with Carbon Composites; and Business Trends & Technology Solutions.

“Composites – Forming the Future of Transportation Worldwide,” is the theme for this year’s event reflecting the growing global interest transportation OEMs have in learning about the latest plastic composites technologies. The 2019 ACCE is co-chaired by Dr. Alper Kiziltas, technical expert, Ford Motor Company and SPE Automotive Div. vice-chair & education committee chair and Matthew E. Carroll, materials engineering, General Motors Company and former SPE Automotive Div. chair. The technical program is co-chaired by Dr. David Jack, associate professor, Mechanical Engineering at Baylor University and Dr. Leonardo Simon, professor, Chemical Engineering at Waterloo University.

About Edward D. Moss

Ed Moss was named Engineering Group Manager (EGM) for Corvette Body Structure at GM in 2009. Moss is responsible for the engineering execution of the aluminum frame, the SMC and carbon fiber underbody components, and the exterior SMC body panels.

Moss joined General Motors in 1990, and has held numerous engineering positions on Corvette, including Total Vehicle Analysis Engineer, Body Vehicle System Engineer and Integration EGM for Body Structure.

He has been at the forefront of many GM firsts on the Corvette Body Structure, including:  the patented Fifth Generation Body Structure; four body structure patents on the Seventh Generation Corvette; and eight body structure patents pending on the Eighth Generation Corvette. His work on the 1997 5th Generation Corvette, and the 2014 7th Generation Corvette, resulted in GM’s Boss Kettering Award, 1997 and 2014, the highest technical honor bestowed by the company.

Moss received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the Michigan Technological University in 1983. He received a Master of Science in Engineering from Wayne State University in 1989.

He lives in Walled Lake, Mich. with his wife, Donna and their four children Eric, Drew, Jacob and Megan.

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