1. Introduction

The present book presents selected results of the research project MultiMaK2 that has been carried out at the Research Campus Open Hybrid LabFactory in Wolfsburg, Germany. The project aimed at providing innovative engineering methods and tools that help to bring forward lightweight automotive body parts with low environmental impacts over their life cycle. The engineering of lightweight body parts is influenced by innovative materials and production technologies that enable new designs. However, the indluence on resulting life cycle impacts is not transparent at engineering stages. To bridge that gap, the project promotes an integrated Life Cycle Design & Engineering when engineering lightweight automotive body parts. Therefore, the research fields of body part design, body part manufacturing as well as a concurrent life cycle engineering are introduced, and key research demands are formulated. On this basis, the subsequent chapters of this book present research results of the MultiMaK2 project.