Suppliers: Page

Protecting plant workers

It's no secret an auto plant can be a dangerous place to work, especially if safety rules are not followed or don't even exist. The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) is working with volunteers from the Big Three and various auto suppliers to prevent some of the more common causes of injuries and deaths in auto plants. AIAG, a non-profit trade association in Southfield, MI, has started a health

By Christie Schweinsberg • Aug. 1, 2001

Life After Spin-off

The cards have been shuffled and dealt, and the bets made. It's only one hand in what promises to be a long game, but the cards as they lay right now hold both promise and chance for North America's two largest automotive suppliers, Delphi Automotive Systems and Visteon Corp. The cards are OK, but it's one of those hands with great potential for second-best. Here's what the cards show: Two enormous

By TOM MURPHY with Roger Schreffler in Japan • Aug. 1, 2001

Explore the Trendline➔

Automotive Manufacturing

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

By WardsAuto staff

Labor Unrest at Tower

Some 350 workers at Tower Automotive were preparing in June to go on strike at a plant in Traverse City in northern Michigan after efforts to negotiate a new contract with United Auto Workers union representatives broke down. After numerous attempts to organize the stamping supplier, workers finally voted for UAW representation last summer. But plant sources say the company and union have been unable

July 1, 2001

Heartland: C&A Needs Strength in Europe

With its 60% share of fabric producer Collins & Aikman Corp., Heartland Industrial Partners LP wants to bolster the supplier's European presence. Cynthia Hess, senior managing director at the Heartland private equity fund, tells a Canada-U.S. Business Association luncheon crowd that C&A dominates the North American market for convertible tops, molded carpet and headliner fabric. But in Europe, the

June 1, 2001

At the Crossroads

Mexican suppliers are at a crossroads either mod-ernize or disappear into the shadows of foreign giants. There are very few Mexican auto parts companies left, says Enrique Villasenor, president of Sanluis Rassini, a Mexico-based supplier of suspension and brake components. There are three options: Either expand, get acquired or partner with someone who has a global reach. Long reliant solely on the

By BRIAN CORBETT with Tom Murphy • May 1, 2001

OESA Panels Study E-Business

In three separate panel discussions on Monday conducted by the Original Equipment Suppliers Assn., the message to suppliers was clear. Don't wait to get involved in e-business, or you may lose out. Small steps can be taken now, panel members say, to get your house in order before entering an Internet exchange. OESA studied three different e-topics: Supply chain management, Collaborative Product Design

By Laurel Wright • March 6, 2001

SAE 2001: Free Markets Making Mark with Auto Suppliers

DETROIT -- While Covisint fiddles, FreeMarkets Inc. says it is burning up the Internet with online auctions involving several automotive suppliers. Six-year-old Pittsburgh-based FreeMarkets says it has helped process $14 billion in transactions over the Internet since 1995 -- nearly $10 billion in the last year alone, resulting in savings to customers totaling more than $2.7 billion. Although it won't

By David E. Zoia • March 5, 2001

SAE 2001: Magna Steyr Offers Overcapacity Solution

For more than a year, Magna International Inc. has talked about the possibility of building a new plant in North America to assemble niche vehicles for automaker customers, much like its Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik plant in Graz, Austria. This week, Magna is talking about a new strategy: using existing auto assembly plants rather than building a greenfield site. With the current overcapacity of automaker

By Tom Murphy • March 5, 2001

Commentary

Modules: Not Ready for Prime Time Few suppliers have acquired the skills to manage modular projects It seems that virtually every supplier is concerned about the impact the Internet will have on how they conduct business with the OEMs. At the same time, only the top Tier 1 suppliers are giving serious consideration to another change that will also have a significant impact on how suppliers will interact

By JOHN W. HENKE • Feb. 1, 2001

... But the UAW’s not buying

UAW President Stephen P. Yokich, who used to head the unions' GM Dept., says he can work with Mr. Smith, but he has harsh words for J.T. Battenberg III, Delphi's president. The UAW struck two key Delphi brake plants in Dayton, OH, during March for 17 days, effectively closing down GM. The strike reportedly cost GM $900 million in lost production, but suppliers in late June say they've already made

Dec. 21, 2000

Dow dives into polypropylene

Dow Plastics, one of the auto industry's largest plastics suppliers, announces it intends to become a major global supplier of polypropylene (PP). Its strategy includes global supply agreements with Montell Polyolefins, licensing agreements and new plant construction. Analysts say the move makes sense because PP is one of the fastest growing segments of the plastics industry. It also helps round out

Dec. 21, 2000

Steel customer satisfaction

Jacobson & Associates, a Rochester, NY, steel industry consulting company, has just released an independent study of how steel customers view their suppliers. The 763-page report contains detailed performance results for the 50 largest steel suppliers in the U.S. and Canada. Ratings are based on more than 1,300 steel purchaser interviews, and include 11 product categories and all major steel markets,

Dec. 21, 2000

‘It’s very scary out there...’

While the Lears buy the Maslands, the Varitys team with the Lucases and the Bosches bulk up on AlliedSignal's brake business, the world understandably can look somewhat frightening to those second- and third-tier suppliers making such mundane products as screws and nuts and gaskets.After all, there are only so many ways to mold a gasket or forge a nut."It's very scary out there," says Joseph E. Young,

By Gardner, Greg • Dec. 21, 2000

Eaton eyes $10 billion by 2000

CLEVELAND -- Already ranked among the world's largest automotive suppliers, Eaton Corp. is pursuing a global growth strategy aimed at boosting annual revenues from last year's record $6.8 billion to $10 billion by 2000.Stephen R. Hardis, who took over as chairman and chief executive officer in January after serving as vice chairman and chief financial officer since 1986, says the targeted growth will

By David C. Smith • Dec. 21, 2000

Suppliers are the target: UAW drive to focus on outside parts workers

When Stephen P. Yokich opened United Auto Workers contract talks in June, he said his goal was to improve pay and conditions--not just for Big Three workers themselves, but also for workers in outside parts factories.In fact, in private meetings with auto executives, he lists the treatment of parts workers as one of the union's three top bargaining priorities for 1996, right up there with secure jobs

By Lippert, John • Dec. 21, 2000

Mexico beckons: NAFTA, recession give foreign suppliers the edge

NAFTA is working, and perhaps nobody knows that better than automotive suppliers doing business in Mexico.How well it's working is highlighted by the severe recession that hit Mexico in 1995 and nearly devastated its auto industry. Without the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), it's difficult to imagine how the industry would have survived. On the other hand, the recession accelerated the

By Ferris, Deebe • Dec. 21, 2000

Magnetic Pulse Welding Nears Launch

Dana Corp.'s magnetic pulse welding process, which could cut significant weight from vehicle frames, will be ready for production in 18 months.Magnetic pulse welding makes it possible to join dissimilar metals such as steel and aluminum by way of a super-tight molecular bond. The process requires no heat or welding wire and minimizes scrap.Dana highlighted the technology at the recent opening of its

By Tom Murphy • Dec. 1, 2000

Covisint Question Tough to Answer

It was the question everyone wanted answered. And no one could answer it. In fact, it caused a bit of tension on the dais on the final day of the Traverse City conference.Just how much money will a Tier 1 supplier save once Covisint is fully operational? Host David Cole posed the question to perhaps the only people in the industry capable of estimating the savings anticipated for the Internet exchange

By Tom Murphy • Sept. 1, 2000

Visteon slims down before spin-off

In a move that sets up its spinoff, Visteon Corp. commits to a joint venture with Pilkington plc, the London-based glassmaker. The No.1 supplier of automotive safety glass, Pilkington will assume majority ownership and manage operations, controlling 81% of Visteon's glass business. For Pilkington, the move expands its share in the U.S. market. For Visteon, the joint venture is seen as trimming the

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • July 1, 2000

Tier 1 suppliers join Covisint

Supplier reaction to Covisint remains mixed because suppliers aren't receiving an equity stake in the e-commerce company formed by the Big Three, Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. Still, heavy hitters Delphi Automotive Systems, Lear Corp., Johnson Controls Automotive, Federal-Mogul Corp., Magna International Inc., Meritor Automotive and Yazaki North America Inc. have all signed on. Covisint hopes

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • July 1, 2000

Master of the Supply Chain

He's been well-known in Detroit for years as the most innovative and respected purchasing chief the industry has ever known. But now, thanks to the messy acquisition of Chrysler Corp. by Daimler-Benz - and the most talked-about business book of the year, Thomas T. Stallkamp is reaching a new level of notoriety.Rising briefly to the position of president of the new DaimlerChrysler AG, Mr. Stallkamp

By Drew Winter and David E. Zoia • July 1, 2000

HERE’S HOW TO CONTROL DAYS’ SUPPLY

As a "pseudo-economist," I watch the economic indicators, listen to Mr. Greenspan, Bloomberg, etc. and try to figure out how all of this information overload relates to the automobile business.My latest concern is the meeting of the Federal Reserve Board where an increase of one-half percent in the Federal Funds Rate was announced.If my information and concern is correct, the Prime Rate will be 9.5%.

By Tony Noland • June 1, 2000

Goodbye Woody, Hello Joe

May 1 wasn't just another day in the life of Southwood (Woody) J. Morcott. For the first time in 37 years he no longer reported to Dana Corp., where he started his business career as an assistant director of corporate relations in 1963, rising quickly through the ranks to president and CEO and COO in 1989 and chairman as well in 1990.Last year he relinquished the CEO post to President Joseph M. Magliochetti,

By David C. Smith • May 1, 2000

No matter where you are, BASF is there with Quality Performance Plastics,Technical Service and Reliable Supply

BASF Plastic Materials is committed to meeting the automotive industry's global needs for reliable supply of quality performance plastics and state-of-the-art technical service. We are building our global resins manufacturing capacities, expanding our technical resources and developing innovative solutions for the needs of the automotive industry.GLOBAL CAPACITIES If your needs call for styrenic copolymers,

By WARD'S AUTO WORLD STAFF • May 1, 2000

Suppliers Say 42-Volts Starts Next Year

Yes, it's been discussed, and for some time everyone's agreed that future personal vehicles will be laden with electronic components and features that suck power far in excess of today's 12-volt vehicle electrical systems.But it seems like it's been discussed for a long, long time. Now Siemens AG and Mannesmann VDO AG, to name just two of the suppliers planning a heavy presence in the new age of vehicle

By Bob Brooks and Bill Visnic • May 1, 2000