Displaying items tagged: IHS Markit

As a prolonged shortage of semiconductors hampers automotive production, West Michigan-based suppliers have been forced to change the way they do business.

Advanced automotive battery suppliers are considering a pair of West Michigan cities for new or expanded manufacturing facilities, MiBiz has learned. 

Magna International Inc. CEO Seetarama Kotagiri got right to the point in discussing the implications of an increasingly electrified vehicle fleet on the global automotive supply chain.

As major automakers and government officials pledge ambitious electric vehicle targets over the coming decade, Michigan’s automotive suppliers are adapting to a business environment that’s swiftly changing yet still firmly rooted in internal combustion engines. 

Market research and consulting firm IHS Markit recently locked in its latest forecast for the North American automotive industry. Barring any major pandemic-related setbacks, most data indicate a scrappy recovery on the back end of 2020 that will continue into 2021. IHS Director of Automotive Analysis Mike Wall, who brings more than two decades’ worth of auto sector expertise, discussed the relatively surprising projections that he didn’t foresee at the start of the pandemic.

The topic of the day at this year’s Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Management Briefing Seminars was predictable.

Over the last decade and a half, the average age of light vehicles on United States roads has slowly risen. 

While the COVID-19 pandemic was quick to hit, instantly styming manufacturing throughout Michigan and the country, the bounceback will likely not be as swift.

When local auto dealerships braced for a potential cramp in new vehicle inventory, they opted to go heavier on used vehicles. Now, they’re looking for just about anything.

The projected slide in new vehicle sales globally and nationwide paints a grim picture for the industry, but local auto dealership executives say there’s a disparity between the numbers and what they’re seeing on their lots.

Auto manufacturers, dealers and OEMs will catch a break from the busy auto show circuit this year after the COVID-19 pandemic essentially wiped out the ability to hold crowded events.

ZEELAND — Gentex Corp. (NASDAQ: GNTX) reported first-quarter losses related to the ongoing shutdown of most vehicle production and the ensuing economic crisis caused by the coronavirus global pandemic.

Automakers are delaying or rethinking the timing of new vehicles as production disruptions caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic linger into the spring.

The vast majority of manufacturers are predicting challenging times ahead for the industry. 

Nearly two years after announcing its initial plan, the Trump administration issued a final rule on March 31 that rolls back Obama-era automobile fuel economy standards and requires modest fuel efficiency increases in forthcoming internal combustion models.

The automotive industry is scrambling to strike a balance between near-term execution and unsteady industry disruption from the novel coronavirus outbreak. 

A tooling engineer from Grand Rapids-based Tier-1 supplier ADAC Automotive was traveling in the Wuhan area of China when the Coronavirus public health crisis broke in late January. 

If the long-promised economic downturn is on the horizon, manufacturers will be the first to feel it in 2020. That’s according to economists and industry experts who say the U.S. economy has become virtually split as it’s powered by confident consumers but weakened by a cautious business sector that is reducing investments and bracing for a contraction.

Innovations in polymer science have produced plastics that are lighter than aluminum and relatively durable, causing manufacturers and their customers to take a new look at how to use the materials.

ACME — After a decade of bullish outlooks, automotive suppliers need to buckle up for a period of upcoming disruptions. 

A decade into the economic recovery, the region’s automotive suppliers continue to ride the wave of vehicle sales volume in the North Amercian and global auto market. Yet, many are bracing for an impending downturn, which analysts predict will occur somewhere in the early 2020s. Primarily, suppliers are planning on weathering any upcoming downturn by banking on investments in new technologies, including electric vehicles and automation, whether through increased R&D spending or through acquisitions. 

From rubber horseshoes to roll-covers for paper, metal and other industries, Vail Rubber Works Inc. has been steadily serving supply chains in West Michigan for more than a century.

HOLLAND — Reports this month that LG Chem plans to build a second U.S. lithium-ion battery plant underscore how much the automotive industry has evolved in the six years since the company started making advanced batteries in West Michigan.

West Michigan manufacturers have taken a disciplined approach to research and development spending throughout the sustained period of economic recovery and growth. 

Despite a looming plateau in auto sales and automakers overwhelmingly betting on the same pieces of the market, savvy suppliers could still realize major opportunities in the coming years. Those opportunities come as automotive sales hit nearly 17.3 million units for 2018, with trucks and SUVs up 8 percent, accounting for around 11.8 million units. Meanwhile, passenger car sales dipped 13 percent to 5.5 million units.

Whether the West Michigan manufacturing industry continues on an ongoing growth trend in 2019 or veers into a contraction remains uncertain. Economist Paul Isely, associate dean for undergraduate programs in the Seidman College of Business at Grand Valley State University, uses automotive, furniture, agriculture, and “amazingly nowadays” aerospace manufacturing to find the pulse of where the region’s economy is headed in the coming months and years. 

The 2019 forecast for the automotive industry remains steady, although sales are expected to experience “a little bit of a step down” to 16.8 million units compared to an expected 17.1 million units this year, according to Mike Wall, director of automotive analysis at IHS Markit. The big cloud over the industry currently hinges on tariffs and trade deals, specifically the United States Mexico Canada Agreement. Wall expects the USMCA to get enacted in some form, even though he does expect to see “some adjustments on the margins.”

MANISTEE — A Northern Michigan-based manufacturer of electronics and electrical assemblies has been acquired by a portfolio company of New Water Capital Partners LP of Boca Raton, Fla. 

NEWAYGO — A West Michigan Tier I automotive supplier is investing $45 million into a 175,000-square-foot facility expansion designed to improve workflow and efficiency. 

As the new owner of Blough Inc., Sean Larkin plans to maintain the company’s roots as a metal finisher in the middle of “farming country.”