Product Focused

The purchasing chiefs of North America's largest auto makers face the unwieldy task of getting quality parts to their assembly plants. From day to day, complications arise: Labor unrest at a supplier plant, fires, inclement weather and shipping accidents all can raise the likelihood that parts won't arrive on time or at all. But through the daily machinations of supply-chain management, the purchasing

By Tom Murphy • July 1, 2004

High Days’ Supply Alert

What was expected to be a robust year has yet to materialize. Through April, only a few franchises are reporting strong results. And for the industry, sales are up fractionally, 3.1%, thanks to trucks. What is happening though, presenting more of a concern, are rising new-vehicle inventory levels and a higher-than-desirable days' supply. This bodes well for the consumer, with incentives averaging

By Tony Noland • June 1, 2004

Explore the Trendline➔

Automotive Manufacturing

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

By WardsAuto staff

Get Days’ Supply Right

Thorough understanding of days' supply is necessary if a parts inventory is to be both immediately responsive to customer needs and profitable. To correctly calculate days' supply levels, it's necessary to understand two buying methods, split guide and straight guide. It's also important to recognize the differences between them and when to use them. Failure to do so can mean excess stock or an inability

By GARY NAPLES • June 1, 2004

UAW Next Hurdle in Magna Deal

Labor issues are among the biggest hurdles facing Magna International Inc. as it moves to close its purchase of New Venture Gear Inc. from DaimlerChrysler AG. Magna says it began negotiations with the United Auto Workers in mid-May on a new contract for some 3,100 Syracuse, NY, NVG employees in which it is seeking modifications to the 4-year deal signed by DC and the union last fall. Among those will

June 1, 2004

Magna Drivetrain

Magna International Inc. says it will produce transfer cases for General Motors Corp. fullsize pickups and SUVs at two U.S. plants that will open by 2007. Magna details the contract and simultaneously announces creation of Magna Drivetrain, the seventh division within Magna. It consists of the former Powertrain unit of Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co KG, based in Austria. This division has experienced

May 1, 2004

Dana Expects Fast Payback on Hydraulic Hybrid

DETROIT Based on experience with a hydraulic-hybrid (HH) military truck, Dana Corp. says the cost of the technology, when applied to a garbage truck, for example, may be offset within as little as one year of service. Echoing the outlook of other advocates of hydraulic-hybrid technology applied to frequent stop/start vehicles, the Toledo, OH, supplier says the net combination of high-efficiency hydraulics

By Bob Brooks • March 23, 2004

Survey: Supplier Migration to Emerging Markets

DETROIT –The auto parts business will grow in all regions – to the tune of $228 billion a year – between now and 2010, concludes a study by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants LLC. But the manufacturing footprint of the players will be realigned with forecasted global shifts in market share. Suppliers are looking to change their manufacturing footprint. The study, entitled The Odyssey of the Auto Industry;

By Alisa Priddle • March 9, 2004

Invest in France Honors Suppliers

The 9th Annual Invest in France Automotive Awards Reception will honor Johnson Controls Inc., Cignet LLC and AxleTech International March 9 in Detroit. The agency wants to recognize North American auto companies that have invested significantly in new or expanded facilities in France. Keith Wandell, president of JCI's automotive group, will accept the award for the supplier, which is being honored

March 1, 2004

My Formula for Success

The quality of feedback is important if you use a measurement to provide feedback for evaluating operational effectiveness of the parts department. Yet there is only one place this measurement really matters, in the service department. The success of a dealership is won or lost there. If the parts department can't efficiently and quickly supply the service department, then the service department will

By GARY NAPLES • Sept. 1, 2003

Hostility Reigns

Combining ArvinMeritor Inc. and Dana Corp. is a bad idea because the new company would be the highest-leveraged supplier in the sector, there would be no benefit for Dana shareholders and U.S. antitrust regulators surely would object, Dana CEO Joe Magliochetti tells Ward's. Magliochetti had been quiet since ArvinMeritor announced its $2.2 billion bid for the larger, Toledo, OH-based Dana. But he broke

By Tom Murphy • Sept. 1, 2003

Magna Steyr Launches 9-3 Drop-Top

Production of the new Saab 9-3 convertible is under way at the Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co. KG plant in Graz, Austria, marking the first time a Saab car is being manufactured outside of Scandinavia. Until now, all Saab cars were built in Sweden or Finland. Magna Steyr builds the car and also engineered it. Two hundred engineers and technicians worked on the project for 36 months. When the

Aug. 1, 2003

Eyesight to the Blind

Valeo SA predicts that its radar-based blindspot detection system will be in use on 1 million vehicles worldwide within a decade. The French supplier says the system, dubbed Radar Traffic Environment Sensing, should debut on a production vehicle in 2005, likely first in the U.S. Although the OEM decides retail price, Valeo officials estimate the technology could be available to consumers for $600

By Tom Murphy • July 1, 2003

HOLDING BACK

It seems inconceivable that an automotive supplier whose sheer survival hinges on its ability to create something useful and continue to improve on it would decline the opportunity to shop its most advanced, far-out, game-changing technology to North America's Big Three auto makers. Yet, with alarming frequency, suppliers are growing so disenchanted with the daily bruising associated with selling

By Tom Murphy • July 1, 2003

TRW: Right Where We Want to Be

Expect no restructuring at TRW Automotive following its acquisition by Blackstone Group, says John Plant, the supplier's president and CEO. The Blackstone Group is an investor, not a manager, Plant says, adding TRW Automotive recently concluded extensive restructuring. Blackstone, a private investment bank, paid $4.7 billion for the automotive unit of TRW Inc., which was acquired in July by Northrop

April 1, 2003

Federal-Mogul Confident

Federal-Mogul Corp. CEO Frank Macher says, despite his company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy status, the supplier is in good standing and poised to report positive third-quarter 2002 earnings. Speaking at the opening of Federal-Mogul's new Automotive Friction Products Technical Center in Plymouth, MI, Macher says the company's Chapter 11 status, which stems from asbestos-related claims filed against it,

By Christie Schweinsberg • Nov. 1, 2002

UAW eyes Magna’s Intier unit

Hot on the heels of successfully organizing workers at various Johnson Controls Inc. facilities in the U.S., the United Auto Workers sets its sights on Magna International Inc.'s Intier Automotive Inc., based in Ontario. Relations between Magna and the UAW, although once tenuous, have warmed recently as the UAW was able to organize 430 workers at Magna's interior trim plant in Brighton, MI, two years

Sept. 1, 2002

Turning At All Corners

The market for 4-wheel steering systems, such as Delphi Corp.'s Quadra-steer, is expected to grow at a compounded rate of 50% a year until 2006, the supplier predicts. The market for rear steering on big pickups and SUVs didn't exist two years ago, so any growth is bound to be statistically significant. Still, four solid years of growth is hard to ignore. Delphi is the biggest player in the segment,

By Tom Murphy • Sept. 1, 2002

Dana Ready to Begin Spark-Free Welding

Dana Corp. has been talking about magnetic pulse welding for years as a technology that will make for easier assembly of truck frames and reduce weight significantly by allowing steel to be joined with dissimilar lightweight materials, such as aluminum, magnesium or titanium. Next year, Dana will use magnetic pulse welding for the first time to produce a driveshaft that is mostly aluminum. The ends

By Tom Murphy • Sept. 1, 2002

Magna Donnelly Eyes Mirror Dominance

A year ago, Magna International Inc. spun off its interiors business into a separate company known as Intier Automotive. In late June, Magna made another bold move, acquiring one of its loyal suppliers, Donnelly Corp., which sells door handles, windows, mirrors and mirror components to Magna. Clearly, Canada's No.1 automotive supplier no longer is satisfied to be the No.3 player in interiors, behind

By Tom Murphy • Aug. 1, 2002

Hydraulic fan, styling freedom

Valeo SA will supply its Hydraulically Driven Fan System (HDFS) for the redesigned '03 Dodge Viper and on an '05 luxury SUV. The supplier also has letters of intent with customers to provide the system for two other major SUV platforms for the '05 model year, and several other programs are in the works for other customers by '06. All of the vehicles will be produced in North America. HDFS first debuted

By Tom Murphy • July 1, 2002

Behr To Build Wind Tunnel in Troy

From the sweltering Sahara to the South Pole, there's nary a temperature or weather condition heating and cooling systems supplier Behr GmbH & Co. cannot simulate with its state-of-the-art wind tunnel at its Stuttgart, Germany, headquarters. Now, on the heels of opening its new, $34 million North American headquarters and technical center in Troy, MI, just north of Detroit, Behr, Europe's biggest

By Christie Schweinsberg • July 1, 2002

SUVs Spur Market For ArvinMeritor Springs

The popularity of SUVs has opened the door literally to new opportunities for ArvinMeritor Inc. The small town of Marion near Myrtle Beach, SC, is home to ArvinMeritor's sole North American plant for producing gas springs, which provide the familiar sound each time a lift gate opens on an SUV or minivan. The supplier's research indicates that 85% of new light vehicles have at least two gas springs,

By Tom Murphy • July 1, 2002

Dana Consolidates Torque/Traction Unit

Roughly one-third of Dana Corp.'s $10 billion in sales comes from torque and traction products, such as axles and driveshafts. The segments are strategically crucial to Dana, yet surprisingly, there has been little integration between the two. But the supplier is combining them into one global unit, with a new $24 million headquarters to be built southwest of Toledo, OH, on 30 acres in Monclova Township.

June 1, 2002

Brake Force

There's a new kid in town in the hotly contested market for automotive brake systems, and the stakes are high as this new player from Japan potentially could leapfrog to the world's No.2 position within a few years. Advics Co. Ltd. combines the brake operations of three of Japan's largest automotive suppliers: Denso Corp., Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd. and Sumitomo Electric Industries Co. Ltd. The company

By Tom Murphy • April 1, 2002

Cutting Out the Middleman

Composite Products Inc. (CPI) says it has developed a composite manufacturing process that allows it to sell its composite parts for 30% to 60% less than competitors that use the traditional composite material supply procedure. CPI's direct-feed thermoplastic (DFT) manufacturing process allows the Winona, MN-based composite molder to avoid buying composite pellets from a compounding company. The way

March 1, 2002