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Reinventing bodyshop flexibility with pumpable baffle technology
Henkel’s pumpable baffle technology is helping automotive manufacturers increase bodyshop flexibility by reducing tooling requirements and simplifying changes to vehicle programs.
Cavity sealing is one of the less visible processes in automotive body manufacturing. Customers never see it, yet it plays a crucial role in protecting vehicles against water and dust, reducing noise and vibration, and ensuring long-term quality. For decades, this has been achieved using preformed parts or sealing tapes designed specifically for each vehicle geometry. But that approach is increasingly coming under pressure. Greater model variety, shorter product cycles and fluctuating production volumes are driving demand for more flexible manufacturing solutions.
Henkel is pursuing a different approach. As an alternative to injection-molded cavity baffles, the company has developed TEROSON® RB 63 Series pumpable baffles which are robotically dispensed directly onto the body structure before expanding during the paint bake process. Additionally, pumpable baffles deliver superior acoustic performance compared to traditional baffles. The concept itself is not entirely new, but only now does it appear ready for broader industrial adoption. According to Henkel, this is due both to the maturity of the technology and the growing cost pressure facing automotive manufacturers.
An Idea Ahead of Its Time
The origins of the technology go back several years. Neil Wilson, Snr. Scientific Principal, Henkel who has played a key role in developing the current material generation, still remembers his first impression when he encountered the concept.
I thought, that's amazing. That is the future. Get rid of all the different parts, the molding and the complexity of it.
The principle was straightforward. Instead of designing and producing countless vehicle-specific plastic components, a pumpable material would be applied directly to the body structure. This would eliminate injection-molding tools, reduce logistics complexity and significantly cut the number of unique parts required; saving time.
Turning that idea into a production-ready material, however, proved far more challenging. The material had to remain stable throughout pretreatment, resist wash-off, expand reliably during the paint bake process and seal cavities of varying sizes and geometries. After several generations the technology came from niche applications to the maturity of sealing a majority of the vehicles cavities.
Why the Timing Is Right Now
The more interesting question is why the technology is gaining momentum only now.
According to Dr. Nick Chudalla, Market Strategy Manager, Henkel, the market itself has changed. Vehicle manufacturers are under great pressure to reduce costs and are re-evaluating long-established manufacturing processes. One key factor enabling this shift is the transition to solutions that can be applied through automated processes rather than requiring manual placement by hand. This allows OEMs to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and optimize production.
OEMs are under significant cost pressure and are seeking alternative technologies that offer opportunities for cost reduction.
Today, Henkel is introducing its third-generationpumpable solution, the TEROSON® RB 63 Series. The material can be dispensed and applied at room temperature.. It is compatible with standard dispensing technology while still meeting the cycle-time requirements of automotive body shops.
Greater Flexibility Instead of New Tooling
The benefits extend well beyond the sealing material itself. Conventional cavity baffles require dedicated engineering work and injection-molding tools for every individual vehicle program. If body geometry changes during development, new tooling is often required.
Pumpable materials follow a different logic. In many cases, adapting the sealing strategy simply means changing the robot path or adjusting the amount of material being dispensed.
“With a pumpable, it's about bead placement. You just program the robot. It's instantly done,” says Wilson.
That flexibility becomes increasingly valuable as vehicle development cycles continue to shorten. Engineering effort can be reduced because many vehicle-specific plastic components are no longer required.
The economic benefits extend even further. Tooling costs can be reduced, while manufacturers gain much greater flexibility when production volumes shift between vehicle programs. Instead of managing inventories of numerous unique plastic parts, the same material can simply be used wherever it is needed.
For Kyle Lynch, Manager of Platform Engineering, Henkel, the biggest advantage goes beyond the material itself. He believes the technology fundamentally changes how manufacturers can respond to engineering changes during vehicle development.
Instead of redesigning and manufacturing a completely new part, you can often simply adjust the dispense pattern. That gives OEMs much more flexibility and helps shorten development cycles.
The same flexibility also applies on the shop floor. Rather than stocking dedicated parts for individual vehicle programs, manufacturers can simply move the material to wherever it is needed.
“You can just take the drum from one line and put it onto the next line and it still works. You can't do that with preformed parts,” says Nick Chudalla.
Simplifying More Than Just Production
The technology also changes the supply chain. Instead of transporting, storing and managing large numbers of molded parts, manufacturers receive reusable drums filled with material ready for dispensing.
This reduces packaging, warehouse space and transport volume while eliminating injection-molding tools and several manufacturing steps associated with traditional cavity baffles. For OEMs, this translates into lower complexity throughout the value chain.
Equally important is process reliability. One of the key development challenges was ensuring that the material would remain exactly where it was applied throughout pretreatment and washing operations. According to Wilson, the formulation underwent extensive internal and customer-specific testing, including demanding wash-off evaluations under harsh production conditions, to ensure stable performance before expansion.
Accelerating Industrialization
To help customers introduce the technology more quickly, Henkel is investing in additional development capabilities. The Acoustic & Structural Innovation Engineering Center in North America has been designed to allow OEMs to validate applications under production-like conditions.
The facility is equipped with robotic dispensing systems and curing ovens that closely replicate those used in automotive body shops. This enables manufacturers to test materials, optimize robot programs and evaluate complete body assemblies without relying on external trial facilities; saving costs.
“We're trying to have a lot more customer one-on-one time and speed up the development timeline,” says Kyle Lynch.
For Henkel, the current material generation is not the end of the journey but the beginning of a broader shift in body manufacturing. Wherever vehicle-specific plastic cavity baffles dominate today, robotically dispensed materials could increasingly become an alternative. The real advantage lies not only in the material itself but in the manufacturing flexibility it enables. As cost pressure, product complexity and production volatility continue to increase across the automotive industry, that flexibility is likely to become an increasingly valuable asset.
