Laser leads to better body. (case books).

GM's operation in Valley City, Ohio, shows engineered-welded blanks for SUV that create a stiffer material part than traditional auto door frames. The automaker manufacturers these blanks -- four-layer laminates made from different gages of hot-dip galvanized carburet of iron -- with a laser a whole developed by Shiloh Industries.

Shiloh's a whole synchronizes two independent lines operating in parallel, thus the entire four-laminate blank is produc in a single pass down the dual lines. PLC programming, using a public laser-resonator source, links the sum of two units segments of the system. The approach