Polymer instead of metal: how technology and people are cutting costs in automotive
The automotive industry is changing today under the pressure of technology, costs and new market requirements. Component suppliers must develop solutions for low- and zero-emission vehicles, invest in new technologies and, at the same time, maintain production profitability under strong financial pressure. That is why the sector is increasingly looking for competitive advantage already at the stage of part design, material selection and production process preparation. One example is the replacement of metal components with modern polymers.
According to the CLEPA Pulse Check study “One in four European automotive suppliers bracing for losses in 2026, CLEPA survey reveals”, 76% of automotive suppliers expect profitability below 5% in 2026, while 24% expect negative profitability. In this environment, decisions made already at the part design stage are becoming increasingly important. What matters is the weight of the component, the number of parts, ease of assembly and the possibility of reducing additional operations such as machining, welding or anti-corrosion protection.
That is why material selection is increasingly becoming the starting point for such optimisation. In selected applications, replacing metal with a properly designed polymer can mean a lighter component, a simpler production process and a lower total cost.
“The greatest value of polymers in automotive appears where component weight, the integration of several functions into a single part and the shortening of the production process all matter at the same time. Depending on the application, replacing metal with a properly selected polymer can reduce the weight of a part by 30–60%. This translates into better energy efficiency of the vehicle. In electric cars, this is particularly important because lower weight may allow the battery capacity to be reduced while maintaining the same range. This has a direct impact on the cost and design of the vehicle,” explains Zofia Szafirowska-Kloc, Finance Director at TEREZ Performance Polymers.
The TEREZ expert also emphasises that the advantage of polymers does not end with the lower weight of a component. In the case of metal, part design possibilities are often limited by the properties of the material and the way it is processed. Polymers offer greater flexibility, and their composition can also be adapted to the function a given element is intended to perform. As a result, one part can replace several separate components, for example by combining load-bearing, assembly and flow functions. In practice, this means a simpler structure, fewer elements to assemble, shorter assembly time and a lower risk of production errors.
Polymers can also simplify the way a component is manufactured, as they make it possible to select the technology according to the function and geometry of the part. Examples include SMC and BMC composites, i.e. thermosetting materials based on unsaturated polyester resins reinforced with glass fibre. With such materials, the final shape of the element can be obtained in a single cycle, without additional machining, welding or anti-corrosion protection. This reduces the number of production stages, shortens line operating time and increases quality repeatability, which, at high volumes, can translate into a lower manufacturing cost.
“Replacing metal with polymers is no longer a niche solution today. The largest car manufacturers, such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Toyota, use these materials in many areas of the vehicle. This includes structural components, thermal systems and battery housings in electric cars. This shows that polymers are no longer treated only as a lighter alternative to metal. Increasingly, they are becoming part of the design of modern, more efficient components,” adds Zofia Szafirowska-Kloc.
Technology needs competencies
Replacing metal with polymer involves a change not only in the design of the part, but also in the entire way the implementation project is managed. For a company, this means the need for close cooperation between designers, technologists, quality engineers, production teams, purchasing departments and teams responsible for customer relations. The new solution must be assessed in terms of unit cost, process stability, quality requirements, scalability and its impact on the pace and organisation of production. Without such competencies, even a well-designed material change may remain only at the concept stage.
“The use of new materials in production is changing the profile of competencies sought in the automotive industry. Employees who can combine engineering knowledge with production experience, cost analysis, process validation and technological change management are becoming increasingly important. Companies need not only operators and production workers, but also technologists, designers, quality engineers, automation specialists and young engineers ready to work on project and implementation tasks,” explains Grażyna Pogan, Business Development Manager at Smart Solutions HR.
One of the ways to source competencies for industry is cooperation with technical universities. According to data from Statistics Poland in the report “Higher education in the 2025/2026 academic year”, in the 2024/2025 academic year, 37,833 graduates completed programmes in the “Technology, industry, construction” group. This is one of the areas from which competencies needed for part design, the development of production processes, automation, quality control and the implementation of material solutions are derived.
At the same time, it should be remembered that graduates of technical programmes do not enter the automotive sector exclusively. Other industrial sectors, energy, construction and the machinery sector are also competing for the same group of candidates. Therefore, companies that need engineers, production technologists, automation specialists, designers and quality specialists should build relationships with universities earlier than only at the moment when recruitment begins.
“Polish universities have the potential to support industry in the development of advanced materials and to compete in terms of competencies with larger European markets. Research centres such as the Warsaw University of Technology, the Silesian University of Technology, AGH University of Krakow, Poznań University of Technology and Rzeszów University of Technology are conducting work, among others, on engineering polymers, composites, the behaviour of plastics in processing, surface modification and the analysis of mechanical properties. These are competencies comparable to those available at universities in countries such as Germany or Italy. However, the difference often does not concern the quality of knowledge, but the scale of research funding and the ability to develop projects from the laboratory stage to industrial implementation. Poland can build an advantage in implementation thanks to flexibility, a shorter decision-making path and a practical approach to projects. In many research and development projects, it is Polish teams that move faster from concept to prototype and material validation,” says Zofia Szafirowska-Kloc, Finance Director at TEREZ Performance Polymers.
From laboratory to production
In this context, the potential of universities and young engineers alone is not enough to build industrial advantage. What is crucial is whether knowledge from educational institutions reaches companies and turns into solutions that can be applied in production. That is why cooperation between business and universities should not end with one-off projects or internships. The greatest value comes from initiatives in which students, research teams and companies work on current challenges in the industrial sector, including material selection for a specific part, simplification of the production process or cost reduction.
“One of the biggest challenges in using the potential of Polish universities by industry remains the commercialisation of academic knowledge. It is crucial to shorten the distance between research centres and manufacturing companies. In Poland, we have excellent scientific competencies, but many ideas stop at the stage of research, laboratory trials or prototypes. For them to reach production, they must be verified in terms of costs, raw material availability, process parameters, quality requirements and customer expectations. This is not a problem of lacking knowledge, but of translating it into industrial conditions,” adds Zofia Szafirowska-Kloc.
As a result, the biggest barrier remains the mismatch between expectations on the side of science and business. Universities work on highly innovative solutions, but they do not always take into account, from the very beginning, industrial limitations such as material cost, production scale, component availability or process requirements. Companies, in turn, do not always define precisely enough which technological problem they want to solve. That is why effective commercialisation requires long-term partnerships in which business is involved already at the stage of defining project assumptions, rather than only when a ready-made solution is looking for an application in production.
In material projects, this stage is particularly important because the difference between a promising material and an industry-ready solution is very large. A material must not only perform well in tests, but also prove itself in a specific process, at defined costs, quality requirements and the expected production scale. That is why companies working on new plastics increasingly combine laboratory work with production trials, cost analysis and tests conducted with the customer’s application in mind. This is the model used, among others, in projects carried out by TEREZ Performance Polymers, where engineers work on materials such as PA, PBT or PPS, while at the same time assessing their potential use in real industrial conditions.
“The example of replacing metal with polymer clearly shows the direction in which automotive is changing. Competitive advantage will not result solely from access to technology, but from the ability to implement it. New materials, automation and electromobility require people who can combine engineering knowledge with production practice and business calculation. That is why companies that want to remain competitive must invest not only in technological solutions, but also in teams capable of taking them from the concept stage to production,” concludes Grażyna Pogan, Business Development Manager at Smart Solutions HR.
Sources: CLEPA Pulse Check, “One in four European automotive suppliers bracing for losses in 2026, CLEPA survey reveals”; Statistics Poland, “Higher education in the 2025/2026 academic year”.
