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Supplier Eye Manufacturing & Prototyping
A Re-regionalized Industry
Any supply issues upstream will reverberate exponentially.
Supplier Eye Manufacturing & Prototyping
OEM Growth in China
The growth of the Chinese automotive sector is going to alter the industry globally.
Supplier Eye Power
Looking Ahead to 2026
September is unofficially known in the industry as a key forecasting month. It’s when several suppliers lock in their revenue forecasts for the next year. As we approach 2026, there are still several balls in the...
News Energy
Delay and Extend and Rescope
Suppliers are learning several new and unwelcome lessons as the dynamics surrounding U.S. light vehicle trade and emissions legislation quickly shifts. Two major issues are at play here. As the industry...
News Power
Supplier Eye: Investment Certainty Is Critical
Much has been written about the challenging operating environment within the North American automotive ecosystem. Suppliers and OEMs alike were never trained in business school or past...
Supplier Eye Government
Sourcing Re-Evaluation Underway
The events of the last few months (re: tariff structures) underscore that the world is becoming more insular. Last month’s column (on re-regionalization) outlined that major markets like China, the U.S. and the EU already have or are increasingly building a moat around their markets. Read on for this month's column.
Supplier Eye Automotive
In Tariff Talks, Cooler Heads Should Prevail
For my nearly 60-year lifetime, I have had the benefit of being part of a North American Automotive Industry that was, from a production perspective, completely rationalized and optimized. Given...
News AR/AI
Near-Term Focus Can Obscure Reliable Path Forward
So often in our industry, we can be too focused on near-term opportunities and navigating immediate issues. With a new U.S. administration on the way in and more than a handful of other...
Supplier Eye Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A New Reckoning
As the industry worked through accelerated production volumes last decade, there were few concerns surrounding low capacity utilization in our fixed-cost-heavy North American ecosystem. With the benefit of stronger demand and...
News Energy
Planning with a Scenario Mindset
Across the industry, strategic planners from OEMs and suppliers alike are scratching their heads. The number of strategic directions they currently face is unprecedented. Combine global trade friction...
News Manufacturing & Prototyping
We've Been Here Before
For a couple of decades, virtually every global original equipment manufacturer spent significant capital and attention raising their sales/production profile in China. It became the world’s largest light vehicle...
News Materials
New Keys to Success
Much has been written about the extraordinary vehicle production and market environment of the past four years in North America and beyond. The plethora of negative impacts from COVID, chip availability, scarcity of...
News Transportation
History Is a Great Teacher
History is a great teacher. There are lessons from the past that we should never forget. Lessons that are often the difference between success and failure in business. In the auto industry, some of the...
Supplier Eye Manufacturing & Prototyping
The Supplier Capacity Dilemma at the Heart of the ICE-To-EV Transition
In the end, the transition from ICE to EV is about more than new technologies and processes. Suppliers need to be keenly aware of the risks assumed as BEV capacity is added. Being on the right program from a volume perspective is critical to supplier viability.
News Mechanical & Fluid Systems
'Scaling' EVs Won’t Come Easy
Regular readers of Supplier Eye will note that this author tries to outline the positives and the negatives of supplier strategies. It’s a moving target. A recent deluge of negative headlines with respect...
News Power
BEV-Agnostic’ Systems Require Attention
Much has been written about battery-electric propulsion’s impact on the automotive ecosystem. The level of change moves much past an overhaul to a complete re-imagination. While it can be...
Supplier Eye RF & Microwave Electronics
Moons Aligning
So far this decade, our industry has been heavily impacted by an endless stream of calamities. When impacted in isolation, dealing with a pandemic, weather disasters, supply- chain disruptions, ICE-to-BEV transition risks,...
News Power
The New Wild West
As the industry quickly shifts its focus from ICE to BEVs, there is a prime opportunity to rethink the basics of the vehicle/propulsion development, manufacturing, procurement and the customer-facing go-to market...
News Power
Electrification Brings Supplier Value Closer to Home
Various aspects of life and business come full circle. While I’m not waiting for bell bottoms from the 1970s to make a triumphant return, the automotive industry is quickly returning...
Supplier Eye Automotive
The Four Strategic Choices Facing Suppliers
Suppliers in the BEV-negative (adversely affected by battery electric propulsion) sectors essentially have four strategic choices going forward. Find out what they are.
Supplier Eye Automotive
The Great Migration of Light-vehicle Production
For years, analysts have pondered the impact of the migration of North American light vehicle production from its original hub in the U.S. Midwest to locations in the Southeast and Mexico....
News Power
Erratic Transition to the BEV Future
The bloom is slowly wilting off the rose. The last two years witnessed an unprecedented level of battery electric vehicle (BEV) investment from both the auto industry and federal government....
Supplier Eye Unmanned Systems
CASE Struggles to Fulfil Expectations
The saying ‘Two steps forward, one step back’ describes the overall progress of CASE — Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electrified vehicles and infrastructures. While electrification and...
News Manned Systems
Are You Prepared for Scope 3?
Suppliers’ heads keep spinning. If the challenges of inflation, energy costs, logistics and labor scarcity weren’t enough chaos, here comes another hurdle: The ongoing push for de-carbonization —...
Supplier Eye Power
Good News and Bad News for Auto Suppliers in 2023
The Fall season brings the annual rite of passage for the industry — setting budgets for the next calendar year. The balance of building revenue forecasts driven by vehicle demand, while...
News Design
The Battle over EV Value-Add Has Begun
A critical industry transition is underway that some already are viewing as an impending battle. At stake is supplier value-add share versus that of OEMs as light-vehicle propulsion formats shift from...
Supplier Eye Manufacturing & Prototyping
EVs Pressure Supplier Value-add
Across every tier of the global supply chain, heads are spinning from the pace of change being driven by vehicle electrification.
Supplier Eye Automotive
Inflation Ignites Another Supplier Squeeze
For more than 100 years, OEMs and suppliers have partnered to build components, engineer and integrate systems, offer servicest, and even manufacture complete vehicles.
Supplier Eye Power
Preparing for a Lumpy EV Transition
Recently, I was asked by an OEM to sum up the looming ICE-to-BEV industry transformation. My reply came in a single word: lumpy! And while that description may not be the most finely tailored way to...
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