Operations: Page 240

Wagons Ho! Young designers rediscover the station wagon

You were young once, remember? You were a little wild. You were going to live your own life, different from everyone else. You would travel the world, write the Great American Novel, date a movie star. Live fast. Die young. Leave a beautiful corpse.And you would never, ever drive a station wagon, the ultimate symbol of throwing away all the dreams of your youth to become a boring middle-class suburbanite

By DREW WINTER and BILL VISNIC • Feb. 1, 1999

The Car Biz’s Real Y2K Problem

Thinking about the cars of the "new millennium" used to seem like an academic exercise - but now it's an immediate concern.In a few weeks the North American International Auto Show will open in Detroit and we'll be hip deep in . . . exactly what model year vehicles? How to "designate" 2000 models is the first question to be settled.When car-company personnel are pressed to guess what the cars of the

Dec. 1, 1998

Explore the Trendline➔

Automotive Manufacturing

Production strategies are changing rapidly as tariffs and shifts in consumer buying patterns affect the industry.

By WardsAuto staff

Mitsubishi: ‘Time of Real Change’Trouble at home drives U.S. reorganization

Mitsubishi Motors Corp., in a recently announced global restructuring, will cut 1,000 jobs, or 22% of its 5,400-person U.S. workforce over the next three years. Most cuts will come through attrition, company officials say, but layoffs will affect hourly workers and executives.Plans call for shrinking the 1,200-person sales division to 1,000, while 700 jobs will be eliminated at the company's Normal,

By Barbara McClellan • Dec. 1, 1998

Ivy Towers vs. Gritty Streets Why economic turmoil caught experts off guard

Economists are a rare breed. They're often astute thinkers who gather tons of information, run it through their blenders and pour out sage counsel and advice to their constituents.Seldom, however, do they venture beyond their ivy towers and into the gritty, grimy world where they can see with their own eyes trends that could quite possibly sharpen their forecasting skills.This occurred to me during

By David C. Smith • Nov. 1, 1998

Inoculated Eastern Europe immune to world financial crisis

Will the financial crisis that has snaked through Asia, South America and Russia leaving chaos in its wake wreak havoc in Eastern Europe? That's the question and fear on everyone's mind.Don't worry, say analysts who assure that Eastern Europe is still strong."The economies of Eastern Europe have really been able to distance themselves from Russia," says Paul Tibbitts, automotive analyst with PlanEcon.There

By Andrea Wielgat • Nov. 1, 1998

Brazil Rides Out the Storm Interest rates soar and car sales stumble

Ford Motor Co.'s new car factory under construction in Guaiba, Brazil, is expected to build about 170,000 vehicles annually.Lucky for Ford, the plant doesn't come on line until 2001.By then, Latin America's economy should be off the brake and back on the accelerator. But at what speed is anyone's guess.As the international financial crisis continues to cruise through Latin America, fresh from doing

By SAID DEEP • Nov. 1, 1998

Steel Attacks Closure Panels Doors, hoods, decklids can be made 10% to 30%lighter

Exactly how much weight can you take out of a steel car without substituting lighter alternative materials? That's the question an international consortium of 35 sheet steel producers -at considerable expense - continues to research.The efforts started in the mid-1990s with the so-called body-in-white: a car or truck's raw steel body without the doors, hood or decklid attached. The result, $22 million

By Drew Winter • Oct. 1, 1998

Ah, Buzzwords An alternative spin on modularity

I propose that Ward's Auto World sponsor a Buzzword of the Year contest. Readers could submit their nominations. Ward's staffers would have some input. Then we could pick one or two words and give them a good-natured roasting.We'd take a light-hearted jab at how great minds of the industry have bought into the latest craze of industry jargon like Ponce de Leon splashing in the fountain of youth.Recently

By GREG GARDNER • Oct. 1, 1998

New Galant a Gallant Effort Style and 6-cyl. power for Mitsubishi’s midsizer

PORTLAND, OR - Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America's (MMSA) 1999 Galant, the latest redesigned entry in the ever-crowded midsize sedan segment, is for the first time exactly that - midsized.The previous model, which shared its Mirage stablemate's truncated platform, was classified as a compact car by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.The longer, wider and taller stance of the '99 Galant

By NATALIE NEFF • Aug. 1, 1998

Rapid Cost Cuts RP sales up as prices plummet

The rapid prototyping industry is evolving as quickly as the solid models they produce. Still in its infancy, rapid prototyping (RP) is only about 10 years old. But it has mushroomed to a $452 million industry worldwide, and its future looks bright.RP machines produce physical models based on a 3D computer-generated design. Layer by layer, RP machines use liquid, powder and sheet materials to fabricate

By Tom Murphy • Aug. 1, 1998

More Discontent at Saturn; Outsourcing for Future SUV at Issue

When Saturn Corp. workers granted strike authorization to UAW Local 1853 in July, one issue in dispute was how much of a bonus 7,200 workers should receive for the second quarter. The UAW says the payment, which hinges on the plant achieving production, quality and training targets, should be about $1,400 per person. The company wants to pay $390.But the larger issue is whether the labor-management

Aug. 1, 1998

Close Enough to Perfect In the push for quality, Six Sigma leaves no stoneunturned

Alexander Pope, the English poet and satirist, could not have foreseen nearly 300 years ago how suitable his words would be in describing the state of manufacturing on the brink of the 21st century.Company executives say they want zero defects from their plants, but they seem to settle for mere improvement out of an acceptance that perfection is, well, inhuman.But that thinking has no place in the

By Tom Murphy • Aug. 1, 1998

Wake-up Call A solution to skilled-trades shortage

I don't know how many articles I've written predicting the shortage of skilled trades. I've talked about different ways of promoting a career in skilled trades for those high school students who have no intention of going to college; about upgrading the training to reflect today's higher level of technology; and about giving graduates in skilled trades a more professional status to reflect the new

By STEPHAN SHARF • Aug. 1, 1998

Bridging the Gap Investor merges Western and Chinese business cultures

The road from Wall Street to the Great Wall may not have been a direct route for Jack Perkowski, but it was a fortuitous one.In less than five years, Mr. Perkowski, chairman and CEO of Asian Strategic Investments Corp. (ASIMCO), has become one of the largest direct foreign investors in China. He has 15 joint ventures in key sectors of the Chinese economy under his firm's belt and, coming soon, two

By Barbara McClellan • Aug. 1, 1998

Bridging the Gap

The road from Wall Street to the Great Wall may not have been a direct route for Jack Perkowski, but it was a fortuitous one.In less than five years, Mr. Perkowski, chairman and CEO of Asian Strategic Investments Corp. (ASIMCO), has become one of the largest direct foreign investors in China, with 15 joint ventures in key sectors of the Chinese economy under his firm's belt and, coming soon, two wholly

By Barbara McClellan • July 1, 1998

Beetle Sales Stumble; Recall, Paint Problems Cited

Volkswagen AG officials expected June sales of its New Beetle to rebound into the range of 8,000 to 10,000, but May was a disaster.Sales of the supposedly hot car tumbled 42% from 4,870 in April to 2,730 in May after the company recalled about 10,000 cars.It is installing redesigned battery trays. The original trays were, in some cases, cutting through wiring in a way that could create a fire hazard.

July 1, 1998

Lubed, but Not Rude--Metal coating improves the environment for everyone

Anyone who's spent time around tool and die shops - "metal benders" - knows what a mess they are. The traditional metalworking fluids used to lubricate metals so that they can be cold-formed leave an oily mist throughout the plant. And because the mist is just that - usually some type of oil - employees are constantly exposed. It gets in the pores, the respiratory system.And, eventually, into the

By Bill Visnic • June 1, 1998

Space shuttle TPS spinoff aimed at the auto industry

Two proven concepts, "Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday" and spinoffs of space technology into other applications are behind a plethora of new advanced technology automotive insulating materials.Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) like "Inconel - Encapsulated Ceramic Fiber," "S Glass Kapton Aluminized" and "Modified Multilayer Insulation" used to protect the Space Shuttle from the searing heat of re-entry

By Bill Siuru • June 1, 1998

Recaro Finds a Comfy Fit with JCI

The proposed joint venture between Johnson Controls Inc. and Recaro North America Inc. is a bittersweet moment for Douglas Eriksen.As a former Findlay Industries executive, Mr. Eriksen had worked for nearly a year trying to put together a joint venture between his company and Recaro.When the Findlay deal fell through at the 11th hour, Mr. Eriksen decided he liked the prospects for the high-end German

May 1, 1998

3M: Automotive Could Double Company Sales

He's not making any promises, but 3M's Thomas F. Beddow is expecting big things from the auto industry."I think there could be another 3M just in automotive," says Mr. Beddow, executive director of the 3M Automotive Industry Center in suburban Detroit. "I wouldn't go to the board (of directors) and promise anything, but I think there's another $15 billion company in automotive."We could spin off (automotive)

By David E. Zoia • May 1, 1998

Suzuki Gets Aggressive Japanese maker has grand plans for Grand Vitara SUV

Since arriving in the U.S. 13 years ago, American Suzuki Motor Corp. has acted like the quiet kid in the back of the classroom: not making waves, but not doing much else either.Now Suzuki wants to get noticed and go up a few rows, if not to the head of the class. It wants to boost annual U.S. sales from about 35,000 units currently to 65,000 next year and to 100,000 by 2002.Suzuki plans to do that

By Steve Finlay • May 1, 1998

Korea After the Crash Fighting ‘the enemy within’ is tough challenge

KUNSAN, South Korea - Foreign visitors to Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd.'s auto plant in the western seaport city of Kunsan are startled to see a large Plexiglas box half filled with currency at the airport.A note fixed to the box asks travelers for a donation to help Korea's economy. The plea is one of the few outward signs of South Korea's tremendous internal struggle to overcome its life-threatening financial

By Barbara McClellan • May 1, 1998

Economic Troubles Lead to Fire Sales

Like other multinational companies, Dana is watching for fire sales. "Opportunity is the watch word," Mr. Heine says. "We're looking at Korea and Thailand. Our direction hasn't changed. This fits into our strategic plan." Mr. Heine recently made a stopover in South Korea, where, he joked, it was difficult to find a hotel room due to so many visiting foreign companies. Just a few years ago, the South

May 1, 1998

ULSAB’s Strongest Feature: Steel Unity Aluminum, plastic makers can’t yetmanage a strong united front

In a rather anti-climactic moment, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) in early March unveils a physical prototype of its UltraLight Steel Auto Body (ULSAB), basically proving out a digital prototype developed several years ago. It verifies what AISI has been chanting for the past four years: It is possible to build a steel automotive body that's dramatically lighter, stronger and less expensive

By Drew Winter • April 1, 1998

ITT prepares to sell most of its automotive business

Another east coast conglomerate decides the auto industry's just too tough. ITT Industries Inc. has hired Lazard Freres & Co. and Goldman Sachs & Co. to put a price tag on its automotive brakes, chassis modules and electrical systems businesses. In a statement, ITT CEO Travis Engen says ITT wants to stay in the fluid handling, fricton and shock absorber and automotive switch businesses. Those operations

April 1, 1998