Monday and Tuesday Morning Sessions, August 2 & 3, 7:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

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Confirmed Speakers

To view Speaker presentations, click on Speaker name.

If not listed, the presentation is not available at this time.

Monday Chair:

Jay Baron, President and Director, Manufacturing Systems Group, Center for Automotive Research

Monday

Manufacturing Business Strategies

Richard Pearson, President and CEO, National Center for Manufacturing Sciences

Dundee Engine Plant

Bruce Coventry, President, Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance, DaimlerChrysler

Success of the Canton Plant through Nissan Production Way

Hidetoshi Imazu (1) (2) (3) (4) (5), Senior Vice President, Nissan Motor Company Ltd.

Successful Manufacturing Business Strategies

John Buchan, Chief Operating Officer, Autocam Corporation

Manufacturing Efficiency and Quality

Bill Russo, Director of Manufacturing Engineering, Vehicle Operations, Ford Motor Company

Ernest Miller, Vice President, Automotive, Capgemini

Quality

Mike Vella, Vice President and General Manager, Brake and Fuel N.A., TI Automotive

Rick Vanden Boom, CogniTens

Tuesday

Manufacturing Engineering and Strategic Relationships

Rick Gerth , Assistant Director, Manufacturing Systems Group

Digital Factory Marketing

Al Hufstetler, Vice President, Product Management Digital Manufacturing, UGS

Yogendra Rahangdale, Executive Vice President, Operations and Planning, American Axle & Manufacturing

Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Processes

Body Light-Weighting Strategies

Jody Hall, Ph.D., Manager Materials Applications, Metal Fabrications Division, General Motors Corporation

All Aluminum XJ

Mark White, Senior Body Structures Manager, Jaguar and Land Rover Vehicles

Michael Kelly, Vice President, Alcan Automotive

Advanced Manufacturing Technologies

Frank Horton, Executive Vice President, Engineering, Cosma International, Inc.

Quality and the Audi A8 Aluminum Body

Dr. -Ing Manfred Sindel, Quality Manager, Audi

Jack Hu , Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan

Manufacturing Strategies and Technologies for Global Competitiveness

Manufacturers are in the spotlight today like no other time in history. Competitive pressures brought on by over-capacity, increased customer demands, expanding product requirements and falling international trade barriers have led to a business climate that has never been seen before. Although a triumph for the consumer, manufacturers are under pressure to re-tool their business strategies. Two distinct strategies are emerging: reducing costs in all areas of business development, labor, and capital investment; and technology innovation for both product and manufacturing.

Manufacturers are seeking to commoditize their products in order to realize huge savings in development costs and piece prices. They are also developing and implementing flexible technologies that distribute capital expenditures across multiple product lines, reduce startup costs and improve quality and lead-time. In North America, the supplier that competes principally on price must have minimal labor content or risk having new business outsourced to low-labor cost countries. Incremental productivity improvements, while still crucial, are often simply inadequate. Lean implementation is being extended throughout the business enterprise as manufacturers squeeze out every possible cost reduction opportunity.

Fortunately for some manufacturers, rapidly advancing product and process technologies afford a competitive advantage during the development of these technologies. For example, laser welding, high speed machining, advanced forming technologies and advanced light-weight material processing are undergoing significant advancements for high-volume manufacturing that cannot be readily duplicated in developing businesses. Companies capable of rapidly developing and implementing these new technologies will be able to more effectively compete domestically and abroad.

These World Class Manufacturing Seminars provided examples of these issues, opportunities, strategies and ramifications. Perspectives were shared from both strategic and tactical points-of-view. Panelists provided case examples of how these challenges are being confronted, and discussed their impact on the automotive industry.

This session presented some of the latest trends in world class product development and what companies can do to make it work. It focused on topics that illuminate the key factors of product development success through comparisons of varied successful product development processes. CAR presented some results of its Product Development Delphi study indicating the current state and future trends in product development in the automotive industry. Speakers from domestic and foreign OEMs and from outside the auto industry told the stories of their product development systems and highlighted the elements of their system that make it a success, as well as the challenges that remain ahead.

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