Welcome to alligator alley: supplier consolidation craze sometimes leads to rocky marriages

Supplier consolidation - or "merger-mania" as it is being referred to by some - is no walk in the park. In fact, some companies that enter into corporate wedlock find the stroll can be quite treacherous.Stephen J. Girsky, a principal and automotive analyst at Morgan Stanley A Co., says his firm has tracked 75 supplier mergers and acquisitions worth $17 billion since February 1995. The current pace

By Tim Keenan • Dec. 1, 1996

Bosch raises the bar: microelectronic advances keep company on cutting edge

REUTLINGEN, Germany - You won't find Robert Bosch GmbH's microelectronics plant on any German tourism bureau lists of places to see, but it should be - at least if you have any interest in the future of automobiles.With electronic controls responsible for more vehicle character and personality with each passing model year, where best to look into the automotive crystal ball than at one of the world's

By Tim Keenan • Nov. 1, 1996

Explore the Trendline➔

Automotive Manufacturing

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

By WardsAuto staff

Breed buys UTA’s steering wheel business

Continuing its aggressive growth, Breed Technologies has agreed to buy United Technologies Automotive's steering wheel operations. While the price was not disclosed initially, the deal is expected to close in late October or early November. It is Breed's fifth acquisition this year. Strategically, it will allow the Lakeland, FL-based supplier to integrate driver's side air bags into the steering wheel.

Oct. 1, 1996

Suppliers and the ‘97s

What would happen if auto shows were put on by suppliers? An automaker executive would pull the veil off a new model and the public would ooh and aah as usual. A supplier executive would, in turn, peel the skin off the vehicle, point to his company's technology and the audience would roar its approval. Then the supplier wakes up.The above scene may be a dream right now for suppliers, but with more

By Tim Keenan • Oct. 1, 1996

Glass attack: window suppliers embrace systems approach, new technology.

Parts consolidation, systems integration, simplified assembly and customer satisfaction are phrases one normally doesn't associate with windshields, yet automotive glass suppliers are focusing intently on each.Glass suppliers are looking at their products as part of the exterior system, participating in vehicle design, supplying glass-based modules and integrating radio antennas into windshields and

By Tim Keenan • Sept. 1, 1996

New cable channel appeals to speed lovers

Racing fans and automobile enthusiasts now have a place they can call home on cable television. Speedvision, which offers shows about cars, airplanes and motorcycles exclusively is well into its ninth month of programming.Speedvision, the brainchild of former ESPN President Roger L. Werner Jr., debuted New Year's Day on Cox Communications, Continental Cablevision and Comcast Corp. cable systems."What

Sept. 1, 1996

Quality questions: industry looking for new ways to evaluate suppliers

What is the true measure of supplier quality? Is it the number of defective parts that elude inspection and make it all the way to customer plants?Or is it the total number of defective parts the supplier generates? Many in the industry are talking about scrapping the measurement of defects -- commonly known as ppm, or parts per million -- altogether.Consider also that parts that appear to be defect-free

By Tim Keenan • Aug. 1, 1996

Varity, Lucas explore merging

In yet another sign that consolidation among suppliers is far from over, Varity Corp. and Lucas Industries plc are talking about a "potential strategic combination" that would give them more muscle in the increasingly competitive antilock brake market. Varity, which derives more than half its $2.4 billion annual sales from brakes, is a strong player in North America, but not as big as ITT Automotive

June 1, 1996

Back to the future: a new type of vertical integration takes shape

One of the most significant and potentially far-reaching trends impacting today's auto industry is the shift in the balance of influence, importance and power from auto assemblers (i.e., original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs) to global Tier 1 suppliers.It's ironic that during this year's centennial celebration of the U.S. auto industry, OEM/supplier relationships are migrating back toward the

By Fitzgerald, Craig M. • June 1, 1996

AlliedSignal brakes put Bosch in systems business.

The biggest news coming out of the 1996 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) annual congress wasn't announced at a press conference and wasn't on the show floor It came from Pans when Robert Bosch Gmbh and AlliedSignal Inc. ended more than a year of negotiations with Bosch agreeing to buy AlliedSignal's passenger car, light- and medium-duty vehicle hydraulic foundation brake and antilock braking

April 1, 1996

Dana’s destiny: Morcott shooting for 50% sales outside U.S.

When you're on a roll, sometimes the best strategy is to stay at the table. That's apparently how Dana Corp. Chairman and CEO Southwood J. (Woody) Morcott thinks.Mr. Morcott just finished his busiest and most profitable year at the helm of the venerable 92-year-old Toledo, OH-based company, and he's got a hot hand. Sales hit a record $7.6 billion in 1995, up $1 billion -- or 15% -- from 1994, and

By Tim Keenan • April 1, 1996

Battle for exteriors heats up: feud between SMC and aluminum escalates

You thought the Plymouth Prowler was all aluminum, right? WRONG! Clearly miffed that aluminum producers were getting all the glory for supplying Prowler body materials, the SMC Automotive Alliance, a trade group representing sheet molding composite (SMC) molders and suppliers, fired off a press release during SAE pointing out the car has seven large body panels made of SMC, comprising 30% of the car's

By Drew Winter • April 1, 1996

Snake pit suppliers: Viper vendors contribute technology to new coupe

PHOENIX -- Viper is the pride of ChrysLer Corp.'s Dodge Div. It may also be the darling of the supplier community.The Viper engineering crew is small in comparison with other platform teams. That leaves several key projects delegated to suppliers willing to invest a lot of time and energy on a project that offers little profit but much prestige and public relations potential.When it came time to put

By Tim Keenan • March 1, 1996

Small suppliers take a global step; trend reflects what’s happening in the upper tiers

Parts manufacturers are on a ma dash to establish local manufacturing capabilities in the key markets where their customer assemble vehicles. It's a hot topic, but it is not a new idea. in fact, it has been decade since the first automotive parts suppliers began establishing extensive manufacturing networks outside their domestic borders.Companies such as TRW, ITT Automotive, Bosch, Valeo, United

By Fitzgerald, Craig M. • March 1, 1996

Magliochetti is new Dana Corp president

Joseph M. Magliochetti, president of Dana's North American operations since 1992, is the new president of Dana Corp. He adds responsibility for the company's European operations to his current duties. Southwood J. Morcott, chairman and president since 1989, continues as chairman and CEO. In a related move, Carl H. Hirsch becomes president of Dana International, with responsibility for Dana's businesses

Jan. 1, 1996

Waste warriors: automaker purchasing chiefs want leaner suppliers.

Television fitness gurus Denise Austin and Susan Powter have nothing on the purchasing bosses of the domestic Big Three automakers. These men have been leading an industry-wide aerobics class for years, and suppliers will be feeling the burn even more in 1996.While it may be difficult to imagine Ford Motor Co.'s Carlos Mazzorin, General Motors Corp.'s Harold Kutner and Chrysler Corp.'s Thomas Stallkamp

By Tim Keenan • Dec. 1, 1995

Holiday cheer: suppliers enjoying good times, yet tread carefully

Would the looming holiday season be the reason why supplier executives are in such a cheerful mood these days? More likely it is the waterfall of black ink on their balance sheets in 1995 and projected good times at least through 1996.If one believes in the power of positive vibes, those emanating from supplier officials indicate 1996 will be a very solid year for the auto industry. Supplier executives

By Michelle Kaczynski, Tim Keenan • Dec. 1, 1995

Quest for QS-9000: suppliers begin long journey to compliance

Whoever said "be careful what you ask for, you might get it" must have been thinking of QS-9000, the U.S. Big Three automakers' first attempt to standardize quality standards for its Tier 1 suppliers.Suppliers have been asking Big Three purchasing departments to unify their quality requirements since 1988. Vendors currently submit various engineering reports, manufacturing quality reports and other

By Tim Keenan • Nov. 1, 1995

Electronic evolution: suppliers bring refined ABS, other advances to ‘96s

Advances in automotive electronics and the evolution of supplier-automaker relationships are combining to not only pack 1996 model vehicles with technology but also make that technology work as an integral part of the total vehicle.Historically, electronics suppliers develop systems for years before an automaker finally decides to install the technology on its vehicles. Then the suppliers scramble

By Tim Keenan • Oct. 1, 1995

Dana wants to enter car module market

Dana Corp. believes its experience supplying complete chassis modules to Mack Trucks Inc. qualifies it for light-vehicle systems contracts. Although it has yet to reel in any, in one recent four-month period Dana was involved in 13 system bids worth $1.6 billion. Five of the opportunities were black-box programs. Dana currently supplies complete chassis, just-in-time and in-line sequence for 25,000

Sept. 1, 1995

Thailand beckons; U.S. automakers and suppliers welcome.

BANGKOK - U.S. automakers and suppliers wanting to take advantage of one of the world's fastest growing auto industries had better head for Thailand. Now!"You have to be in the market as soon as possible," says Chackchai Panichapat, deputy secretary general of Thailand's Board of Investment. "You cannot let your competitor take all of the market share and dominate all of the partsmakers' capacities."He

By Knapp, Gwendolyn S. • Sept. 1, 1995

European suppliers on fast track: partnering, networking is old stuffin the Old World

Every day, the future of Europe's component industry arrives in trucks at the gates of Peugeot SA's assembly plant in western France at Rennes in Brittany. The trucks carry integrated plastic air filter boxes and valve covers for the midsize Citroen Xantia from supplier Mecaplast SA's nearby plant.Across the English Channel, in Brentwood just outside London, the future takes shape as suppliers join

By ROB CLEVELAND • July 1, 1995

India’s automotive push lures suppliers.

NEW DELHI, India -- A hefty injection of foreign capital and know-how is rejuvenating India's parts and components industry -- and heating up the rivalry with China for export markets.The primary emphasis these days naturally is on serving domestic automakers whose ranks are rapidly swelling in the wake of the economic "liberalization" and reforms introduced in mid-1991 after India and its policies

By Mack Chrysler • July 1, 1995

China’s busting out all over

Adam is about to bust loose in China.With its 1.2 billion people, growing economic power and determined strides toward a market economy, China promises to be the key emerging territory for the auto industry in the next 10 years. China also has the potential to become an important export base -- a gateway to Asia -- for Western carmakers and suppliers looking to step up the battle against the Japanese

By David E. Zoia • July 1, 1995

Eastward ho: Japanese robot builders shift production to U.S.

It's no secret robot sales are booming in the U.S., but a visit to the recent International Robots and Vision Automation show in Detroit reveals that robot manufacturing is quietly moving here.Thanks to strong U.S. demand, the trend toward supplier globalization and the musclebound yen, some Japan-based roboteers are shifting production to the States.Kawasaki Robotics Inc. says it has been building

By Drew Winter • July 1, 1995