James R. Baughman, a staff technical specialist, retired from Ford Motor Company in 1999 after 36 years with the company and 40 in the auto industry. He finished his noteworthy career in Ford’s Advanced Manufacturing Technical Development organization as one of the lead researchers and developers of a thermal spray coating process for engine cylinder bores called Plasma Transferred Wire Arc (PTWA). Baughman was responsible for the team of engineers that designed prototype equipment for the PTWA process and verified its durability and production feasibility.
In addition to the PTWA process, Baughman made other significant technology contributions during his career at Ford, including the development and implementation of torque-angle monitoring and tensioning strategies for engine, transmission, body assembly, and tractor and part component divisions. He also implemented a resistance welding feedback controller for resistance welding to assure product quality. Baughman contributed to Ford’s development efforts in paint and powder metal technologies as well.
Baughman graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn with B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Mathematics. He received an MBA in quantitative analysis from Wayne State University in Detroit. He was also an adjunct professor at Henry Ford Community College where he developed a course for the design and manufacturing control of threaded fasteners.
Named an inventor on seven U.S. patents, Baughman was honored in 2009 with the Inventor of the Year Award from the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation, for his contribution to the development of the PTWA thermal spray coating process.