Publications
The Center for Automotive Research is involved in the research of significant issues that relate to the future direction of the global automotive industry. As a nonprofit research organization, and in cooperation with study funders, most CAR research is released publicly through this website.
Driving Michigan’s Renaissance Human Resource Issues in Michigan’s Automotive Industry
This report will approach the future challenge in Michigan’s automotive labor market in two ways. First, in section II, a special forecast of job openings at the state’s largest vehicle producing firms (the Big Three) is presented.
Integrated Build: A New Approach to Building Automotive Bodies
This paper introduces three auto body build concepts: net build (NB), functional build (FB) and integrated build (IB). Most manufacturers design and validate their vehicle launches using the NB concept. Report published in the International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, Volume 3, No. 3/4, 2003.
The Digital Body Development System
The Digital Body Development System (DBDS) is a $10.6 million 4 year NIST ATP project to shorten the time to launch vehicles by improving the launch problem solving process.
Michigan Automotive Research and Development Directory
The first ever assembly of data on 135 Michigan companies involved in vehicle research, engineering and product development. A report of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the Michigan Automotive Partnership.
Estimating the New Automotive Value Chain
The automotive value chain is comprised of one of the largest sets of interconnected markets in the U.S. economy. We define the automotive value chain as the accumulated value produced by companies that sell components, This study was prepared for Accenture.
Advanced Power Technology Survey
The Advanced Power Technology survey is based on the Delphi forecasting process and is highly dependent upon the quality of the small ‘expert’ panel. A Report for the Advanced Power Technology Alliance
Computer Assisted Collaboration in the Automotive Industry: What Are the Complex Problems and How Are Decisions Made?
Market forces are driving the automotive industry toward shorter design times, shorter order fulfillment cycles, and fewer labor hours in final assembly
Automotive Suppliers and the Revenue Acquisition Process: What’s Working, and What’s Not?
The Revenue Acquisition (RA) process is the core business process by which a company drives its product portfolio – and its top and bottom line. RA determines what new business a company acquires, what products it drops, how prices are set and what profit margins it hopes to realize.
A Collaborative Model for the Tool and Die Industry
Many tool and die makers have gone bankrupt during the first years of the new millennia. This study was commissioned to better understand the underlying causes for the demise of these shops. This report was sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
Michigan: The High-Technology Automotive State
There is no fixed “official” definition for the concept of high tech. At different times various organizations and individuals have issued such labels as the “new category,” “information age,” “Internet economy,” “dot.com economy,” “web economy,” “silicon states,” or cyber-states,” and so on. This report was prepared for the Michigan Economic…