Southern Automotive Alliance magazine Feb-March 2019

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

MERCEDES LOOKS AHEAD

CEO Jason Hoff Talks About MBUSI’s Future

CLAY WALDEN:

ITIC:

TREVIN DYE,

Living the Dream at CAVS

Fast Track to Automotive Testing

on JETRO and Millennials

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2019 volume 4 number 1

Faces of the Industry 50 Trevin Dye He’s representing Japanese automotive abroad, and helping bring Millennials together in Atlanta

52 Clay Walden

The Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems and all its cutting edge research is the dream job for Mississippi State’s Clay Walden

Supplier Profiles 54 BL Fabricators

This family run company in Scottsboro, Alabama has been making steel racks for automotive

Departments

40 Features

10 From the Editor 12 Benchmarks/NewsHub 60 Regional Reports 68 Kudos 71 Industry Indicators/Stocks 72 By the Numbers 73 Career Notes 75 Index 76 Vintage

20 EXECUTIVE Q&A Jason Hoff gives an inside look at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International as it heads confidently into a new era

40 SPOTLIGHT

24 INDUSTRY OUTLOOK Do the closings at General Motors have implications for automakers firmly established in the South?

47 EXPERT VIEW How do suppliers guarantee a successful launch? It all comes down to process, people and systems

28 INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

Mexico and Canada favor the new USMCA trade pact, but will American lawmakers go along with the president’s plan?

56 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

32 INNOVATION The International Transportation Innovation Center represents a new way and a new place to test the next big thing: autonomous cars

66 BUILT BY DESIGN Kentucky’s Bristol Group constructs automotive plants to meet the specific needs of diverse industry clients

In this region that loves car building, Tennessee’s Lane Motor Museum displays a collection unlike any other in the country

Kennesaw State University is building talented engineers by teaching them to build race cars

37 VISION From a childhood picking tobacco to running

Toyota in Mississippi, Sean Suggs focuses on promoting kaizen among team members ON THE COVER: After announcing an additional $1 billion investment in Alabama, Mercedes Benz US International forges ahead with plans for its second campus in the state.

MBUSI CEO Jason Hoff brings Southern Automotive Alliance up to speed.

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From the Editor

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ave you noticed how often the automotive industry seems to be in the news lately? Consider for example, stories enlivening or lurking in the news cycle as we prepare this issue for publication:

Chevy vs. Toyota: Chevrolet pulls disputed ad (Jalopnik) British Lotus cars to be ‘Made in China’ at new Geely plant. (Reuters) Inside the GM plant where nooses and ‘whites-only’ signs intimidated workers (CNN) Hyundai is letting federal employees defer car-loan payments during government shutdown (Car and Driver) Ford and VW just announced a global alliance — the first collaborations will be commercial vans and pickup trucks (Business Insider) Trump trade talks delay Chinese automaker GAC’s import plans six months (Automobile) UAW Puts Pressure On GM To Produce Electric Cadillac In U.S. (Inside EVs) Tesla’s software bug bounty is going to the big leagues with Pwn2Own (Roadshow) 2019 Genesis G70 Named North American Car Of The Year (motor1) The next American car recession has already started (Bloomberg) No one has bought a base Rolls-Royce Cullinan...yet (motor1) UAW leader calls GM ‘heartless’ over Mexico-made Blazer (motor1) Everything you need to know about the VW diesel-emissions scandal (Car and Driver) And those are all examples from just one day.

There are a couple of things we can take away from this. First, there are a lot of different outlets covering the automobile industry. Second, not all the news coming out of the industry could be termed “good.”

So where do we stand here at Southern Automotive Alliance? We try to strike a balance between news and features, between short stories and long ones, and between articles that only pertain to the Southern automotive sector and those that relate to the industry as a whole, including those manufacturers, suppliers, regulators, educators and others working in this region.

Not all of our stories are “good news” although many are about positive developments in automotive manufacturing, workforce development, design, engineering, etc. Some of what we cover relates to challenges facing automakers and point out areas where there is still work to be done. We can’t cover everything, but we try to find a sweet spot between informing, educating, enlightening, and entertaining our readers. And we do appreciate the time you spend poring through our pages, or reading our content online.

Please tell us what you think, about what we’re covering, what we should be covering, what you’d like to read more about.

Meanwhile, this issue, we look at how Mercedes is facing the future in Alabama, an innovative and unique-to-the-region automotive testing facility in South Carolina, how a Toyota exec in Mississippi is following through on visionary plans from the top, a one-of-a-kind car museum in Tennessee, a fast-paced workforce development program in Georgia, and a Kentucky company that designs and builds automotive plants. Among other things.

We don’t hit everything everywhere. But there’s plenty to see here. Enjoy.

By the way, if you’re getting this magazine, why not subscribe? It’s easy and just as free as the magazine itself. Just visit our website, www.southernautomotivealliance.com and click on one of the easy subscription buttons or popups. Drop me a line and let me know how well that worked – or tell me what you think about the magazine and what we ought to be writing about, at npatterson@ pmtpublishing.com.

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PUBLISHER: Walker Sorrell EDITOR: Nicholas Patterson npatterson@pmtpublishing.com ART DIRECTOR: Rebecca Reeves WEB PRODUCER: Abby Parrott COPY EDITOR : Christine Gordon CONTRIBUTORS Dave Helms, Cara D. Clark, Bill Gerdes, Michelle Love, Gail Allyn Short, Henri Hollis, Linda H. Lamb, Nancy Henderson, David Green, Ed Potoczac, Stuart Silverstein, Megan Boyle, Dennis Keim ADMINISTRATION: Molly Lipski Powell CIRCULATION: Anita Miller ACCOUNTING: Keith Crabtree ADVERTISING SALES: Chandler Busby 205-802-6363 Ext. 103 cbusby@pmtpublishing.com DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Mark Singletary msingletary@pmtpublishing.com INTEGRATED MEDIA & EVENTS Sheila Wardy swardy@pmtpublishing.com 2204 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 120 Birmingham, AL 35209 (205) 802-6363 southernautomotivealliance.com T.J. Potts, President PMT Publishing, Inc. 3729 Cottage Hill Rd H • Mobile, AL 36609 pmtpublishing.com • 251.473.6269 Southern Automotive Alliance is published bimonthly by PMT Publishing Inc. Copyright 2019 by PMT Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission prohibited.

Address all correspondence to Southern Automotive Alliance, 3729 Cottage Hill Road, Suite H, Mobile, AL 36609 or 2204 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 120, Birmingham, AL 35209. Phone (251) 473-6269 in Mobile or (205) 802-6363 in Birmingham. FAX in Birmingham is (205) 8026393 and e-mail address is info@pmtpublishing. com. Letters to the editor are welcome or e-mail to npatterson@pmtpublishing.com. Please query the editor before sending unsolicited articles or photographs.

Moving? Please note US Postal Service will not forward magazines mailed through their Bulk Mail unit. Please send old label along with your new address 4-6 weeks prior to moving.

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TEXT BY: DAVE HELMS

Industry Benchmarks

Ford’s New $45 Million Tech Center Speeds Up The Future

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t Ford Motor Co.’s new Advanced Manufacturing Center in Redford, Michigan, 3D printing machines are humming away as they churn out new brake parts for the soon-to-be introduced Shelby Mustang GT500, while engineers across the room gaze through virtual reality headsets that simulate production lines.

The new $45 million center may seem like “Star Wars,” but it will soon be exporting new ideas and manufacturing processes to Ford’s many assembly plants throughout the nation, including those in Texas and Kentucky.

“More than 100 years ago, Ford created the moving assembly line, forever changing how vehicles would be mass-produced,” says Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of Global Operations. “Today, we are reinventing tomorrow’s assembly line – tapping technologies once only dreamed of on the big screen – to increase our manufacturing efficiency and quality.”

Ford employs about 100 experts at the development hub for cutting-edge manufacturing technologies, including 3D printing, augmented and virtual reality, robotics, digital manufacturing and more.

One major emphasis at the center is 3D printing. The Advanced Manufacturing Center has 23 3D printing machines and is working with 10 3D manufacturing companies. This allows Ford experts to develop applications with different materials – from sand to nylon powder to carbon. One application currently under development has the potential to save the company more than $2 million.

Assembly line workers building the Ranger pickup also use five different 3D printed tools. These tools played a critical

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NEW INLAND PORT FOR GEORGIA A regional terminal for cargo bound from the Port of Savannah to area companies around the Gateway Industrial Centre off Ga. 365 in North Hall could be open in 2021. Gov. Nathan Deal says construction should start in August on the Northeast Georgia Inland Port on about 2,000 acres off Gateway Centre Parkway next to Norfolk Southern rail tracks.

HIROTEC TO TENNESSEE Japan-based Hirotec Group will spend $40 million to build a new Hirotec America Inc. manufacturing facility in Fayetteville, Tennessee. The automotive supply operation is expected to create more than 100 jobs in Lincoln County over the next three years. Hirotec America, established in Auburn Hills, Michigan in 1988, is an automotive Tier 1 supplier specializing in manufacturing

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role in the launch of Ranger, removing weeks from an already tight timeline and ensuring quality is built in from the first vehicle that rolled off the line.

No innovation center would be complete without attention being paid to advancements with robots. Ford’s new collaborative robots, known as cobots, are now 100 strong in 24 Ford plants around the world.

Cobots are smaller than traditional automotive robots and can work safely alongside people, without protective cages.

Cobots specialize in doing jobs that are too ergonomically difficult for employees. They also reduce costs by requiring less safety gear than that needed by larger machines.

“While we are increasing our use of collaborative robots, we strongly believe there is a need for both people and robots,” said Hinrichs. “People are better at doing certain jobs, while robots are able to perform certain tasks, including those that are ergonomically taxing for people.” n

tooling.

NEW WAY TO CHARGE Volkswagen’s new idea about how to charge electric vehicles would bring the charging station to you. VW unveiled its proposal in January. Mobile charging units would be dispatched directly to electric cars in need of power.

TAX CREDIT EXIT General Motors recently hit the

level of 200,000 electric vehicles sold, meaning its tax credit for EVs will drop to $3,750 in April, according to Reuters. The credit is expected to be gone altogether by April 2020.

KENTUCKY PROJECT ON SCHEDULE Braidy Industries recently filed paperwork showing it has spent $15.7 million on construction of its Braidy Atlas aluminum rolling mill in Greenup,

Supplier SundaramClayton Expanding In South Carolina

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ndia-based automotive supplier SundaramClayton Limited, maker of aluminum cast products for OEM customers nationwide including Merdedes-Benz and Cummins, will spend $40 million to expand its plant in South Carolina’s Ridgeville Industrial Campus.

The investment, announced in late November, will pay for a 78,000-square-foot expansion on 50 acres off Interstate 26, bringing Sundaram-Clayton’s total investment to $90 million at the site. The company plans to hire an additional 130 workers over the next five years.

Company officials say the expansion is an effort to meet increasing demand for its products. “The continued strength of the U.S. economy has led to an increase in demand for our products and, thus, the expansion of the existing manufacturing base in South Carolina,” Lakshimi Venu, the company’s managing director, said in a statement.

Hiring for the new positions is expected to begin in the second quarter. Sundaram-Clayton is part of the $6.5 billion TVS Group of businesses, India’s eighth-largest auto parts and equipment company with a market cap of $1 billion. Its global sales topped $2.4 billion in fiscal 2018 and the company recorded a profit of $45.8 million.

Ridgeville Industrial Campus, a roughly 700-acre industrial park at U.S. Highway 78 and S.C. Highway 27, offers the Norfolk Southern Railway and is near the new Volvo Cars manufacturing campus. It sits about 28 miles from the Port of Charleston. n

Kentucky. The company believes it’s on schedule for full commercial operation by 2021.

TESLA’S PRICE CUT Tesla Inc. in January slashed the price of its Model 3, Model S and Model X by $2,000 in the United States to offset its federal EV tax credit being reduced by half. Tesla deliveries thus far haven’t met market predictions, even with the full $7,500 tax credit.

New Flyer Goes Full-Bore On Electric Transit

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ew Flyer of America Inc. welcomed corporate and community VIPs in November to visit its newly expanded manufacturing facility in Anniston that now represents a $50 million investment.

The Nov. 30 ribbon cutting was to celebrate a $25 million renovation and expansion at New Flyer, which now boasts a 400,000 square-foot campus for building transit bus and motor coaches.

The latest 76,000 square feet will go to production of batteryelectric transit buses, as well as centralizing the welding process and insourcing transit bus part fabrication. More administrative space and a dine-in cafeteria were also added.

The Anniston facility now supports battery-electric bus production.

“The investment in our Anniston facility furthers New Flyer’s commitment to American jobs and manufacturing, and reiterates our ability to build and deliver safe, reliable and technologically advanced transit buses,” said Wayne Joseph, president of New Flyer of America. “We are committed to providing efficient, connected and sustainable mobility solutions to cities across America.”

Last year New Flyer opened its Vehicle Innovation Center in Anniston, the nation’s first and only innovation lab dedicated to nextgeneration bus and coach technology. The VIC has welcomed over 1,000 industry leaders, including transit agencies from across North America, regulators, media, suppliers, utility companies, investors, and other organizations.

New Flyer produces about 15 buses a week in Anniston. Over the past year, jobs have grown by nearly 30 percent to over 750 positions.

U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., who attended the ribbon cutting, praised New Flyer’s efforts, saying the company’s investments have helped make Alabama a national leader in sustainable manufacturing. n

SUNFISH IS SAFE The Center for Biological Diversity and Tennessee Riverkeeper announced in December that a $6 million agreement had been reached that will protect the endangered spring pygmy sunfish that abides near a $1.6 billion auto factory in Huntsville being built by Mazda-Toyota Manufacturing.

HYUNDAI HITS RECORD Hyundai’s Alabama plant stepped on the gas for Santa Fe SUV production in 2018, building more than 88,000 SUVs last year, a 51 percent increase from 2017. Plant officials said total production, which includes Elantra and Sonata sedans, topped 322,000 units.

DAIMLER DELIVERS Daimler’s Freightliner recently delivered its first all-electric

Freightliner truck to Penske Leasing Corp. The electric Freightliner, with a range of 250 miles, will compete with the Tesla Semi.

PARTNERSHIP’S NEW CHAIRMAN The AlabamaGermany Partnership board of directors recently approved JMF shareholder Bobby Ingram as its new chairman. The AGP supports

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Mississippi Innovation Center Taking Driverless Vehicles Off-Road

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ississippi State University’s Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, or CAVS, is using a partnership with the U.S. Army to design and build driverless off-road vehicles.

To that end, crews are working to create a 50-acre track that will provide real-world tests of the modeling and simulations prepared by CAVS’ team of professional and graduate and undergraduates.

The center, created to complement the work of Nissan when it arrived in Canton, now regularly works with all players in the Southern auto industry, as well as NASA and the military. The center landed nearly $20 million in research and development contracts in 2017, up from around $15 million in 2016.

For the military’s driverless off-road project, the center is talking to experts in other fields where such work is also underway, including construction, mining and agriculture interests.

“We’re interested in anyone interested in off-road autonomy,” says Starkville-based Clay Walden, CAVS executive director.

The professionals and students involved in the narrowly targeted technology of driverless off-road vehicles are positioned to make a genuine difference, according to Walden. “It’s a niche where we can contribute and not get lost in the tens of billions of dollars in R&D that we’re not going to touch.”

After three years in the autonomous-vehicle space, CAVS decided to grow its stake by building a 50-acre test track and proving grounds behind its Starkville home at 200 Research Boulevard.

Along with that addition, the center has made a particular focus of sensors, Walden says. They come in a range of forms including laser, camera and radar. “You want to be able to model them ahead of testing,” says Glenn Dennis, director of CAVS extension.

While military secrecy forbids too much discussion on the off-road project, Mississippi innovators have found that the work already done keeping driverless cars on the road doesn’t apply much to what the Army wants.

Designers of unmanned cars built for the highway have the luxury of paved roads and multi-lane signage and signaling. “Offroad you have a whole set of questions,” he says, starting with how the vehicle reacts with the terrain and how it overcomes obstacles.

In this line of work, Walden says, your innovations best be far out ahead of competitors. “We’re not going to be successful developing things two or three years out,” he says. “We need to be further out than that.” n

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relationships and friendships between organizations and individuals with ties to Alabama and Germany, to foster opportunities.

AUBURN HAS SKILLS Auburn University was recently named one of 120 institutions to be an “R1” institution by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The designation is reserved for doctoral

universities with “the highest levels of research activity.”

VOLVO CHASES TESLA Volvo Polestar, the company’s signature electric brand, recently teased the industry with an image from its upcoming all-electric Polestar 2 model, meant to compete with the Tesla 3. Polestar 2 sports a decidedly modern appearance.

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EXPLORER ST REVEALED Ford Motor Co. says the 2020 Ford Explorer ST, in the Platinum version, will deliver a mind-boggling 400 horsepower with 415 pound-feet of torque.

The new, more powerful engine is complemented by a fastshifting 10-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters.

BIG ON BATTERIES Daimler recently announced its

intentions to spend $23 billion on battery cells, including the Alabama electric battery plant planned in Bibb County near the Vance assembly plant.

Mercedes-Benz aims to have electric versions of all its models by 2023.

HYDROGEN FOR HYUNDAI Hyundai Motor Group plans a $6.7 billion investment to produce 700,000 hydrogen fuelcell systems annually by 2030.

Georgia Gets Into Auto Battery Movement With $1.67B Project

Chevy Volt Faces March Death Sentence: What Its Demise Teaches Us

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outh Korean lithium ion battery producer SK Innovation Co. will start construction this year on a $1.67 billion factory project in north Georgia to meet anticipated demand for electric vehicle batteries.

The plant will be in Commerce, Georgia, about an hour northeast of Atlanta, and eventually employ 2,000 workers. The company aims to produce enough lithium ion batteries annually to equal 9.8 gigawatt-hours by 2022.

As both foreign and domestic automakers push ahead on electric vehicles, the major disconnect thus far has been in battery production to power the models. IHS Market forecasts indicate the global industry will need battery production capacity approaching 550 gigawatt-hours of power storage in 2025 to energize the number of electric vehicles that could be in use by that year.

SK officials said Georgia’s central location in the Southeastern automotive sphere made it a good choice for the plant location, which has room for future expansions.

SK Innovation supplies Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Kia, all of which are represented in the Southeast. The company makes all aspects of lithium ion batteries, including a proprietary separator technology that bonds ceramic to a thin polyethylene material to create a highstrength film that is heat resistant. n

Of those, 500,000 a year would be destined for passenger and commercial vehicles under the Hyundai and Kia car brands, according to company officials.

Hyundai believes global demand for fuel-cell vehicles will grow to 2 million units annually by 2030.

HIRING TO FIRE UP State officials and executives for the Mazda-Toyota joint manufacturing plant in

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he Chevy Volt, the first mass-market plug-in hybrid and a proud General Motors product since 2011, appears to be headed for the scrapyard in March when GM’s global restructuring will cut 14,000 salaried staff and factory workers and close seven factories by the end of the year.

In December, a slightly premature post-mortem by The Verge picked apart the Volt’s accomplishments and shortcomings. First and foremost, there was disappointing though not unforgivable sales figures. Chevy aimed to sell 10,000 Volts in 2011 but moved only 7,671. Deliveries stepped up in 2016 and 2017 to more than 20,000 units per year.

The Volt featured a gasoline engine that kicked in, almost unnoticeably, when its plug-in hybrid battery was out of power. It could be driven solely on the gas engine, but plugging it in at night allowed the user to save considerably on gasoline costs. The Volt had a range of 53 miles with a full charge of electricity.

So why must it die? The Verge notes that it’s primarily a ruling against sedans in general, which have fallen victim to light trucks and crossovers. But GM, the article suggests, also had a strange retail strategy with the Volt: Dealers would often try to sell you something else when you expressed interest in it.

Trying to sell a Volt, which required considerably more time for consumer education into the intricacies of electric car ownership, cut into commissions, since time is money on the car lot.

Still, GM put 150,000 Volts on the road, and should be proud for getting electric cars that much farther into the American mindset. n

Huntsville, Alabama are making good progress on the plan to hire and train the plant’s workforce, according to Vice President of Administration Mark Brazeal. The plant will begin operations in 2021.

RANGER’S SEXY MPG Ford Motor Co. says its new midsize Ranger pickup will be powered by a 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine rated at 270 horsepower

and delivering 23 mpg in the 2WD version. That’s better than all its gas-powered competitors, the company says.

GHOSN INDICTED Carlos Ghosn, who recently lost his role as chairman of Nissan, was formally indicted in December on charges that he underreported his income to Japanese authorities. Nissan Motor Co. and a top aide to Ghosn also were indicted,

according to state reports in Japan.

FORD, VW TALK Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co. have been in advanced talks about combining forces, with some discussion apparently centering on VW using Ford plants in the United States to produce vehicles.

CHEAP GAS IN DANGER Lawmakers around the South,

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BE N C HM A R K S

VW Aims For 300-Mile Range With I.D. Model

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Cars Aren’t Going Away On This Ceo’s Watch

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0lkswagen revealed a bit more in December about its new mass-market electric vehicle called “I.D.,” which will deliver about 290 miles based on EPA for its high-end battery and about 206 miles on a smaller power pack. It will cost the same as “a modern Golf diesel,” Jürgen Stackmann told Engadget, which amounts to between $24,000 and $32,000.

V.W. is building all its I.D. cars on the “MEB” platform, using battery packs with between 48 kWh and 111 kWh, allowing 206 and 340 mile ranges. The company plans a Tesla-like system for placing orders, which will allow customers to choose models, ranges, colors and option packages with a few keystrokes.

Electric vehicles eat up battery life at high speeds, so the I.D. will have a top speed of 100 mph, according to Engadget. The liquidcooled battery will charge at 125 kW, compared to Tesla’s 150kW, meaning 30 minutes of charge time gets you 250 miles of range.

The first I.D. model will be called “Neo,” according to industry buzz. The I.D. will be unveiled this year and arrive in showrooms in 2020. VW has expressed an intent to produce electric vehicles at its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which currently employs 3,500 workers and assembles Passat and Atlas models. n

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particularly in Alabama, are looking to bring new revenue to the statehouse, perhaps in the form of higher gas taxes.

Alabama Senator Del Marsh says such a move is one of the few ways the state’s crumbling infrastructure might be remedied.

AUTODRIVE TO THE RESCUE A 45-year-old man was arrested recently in California after police spotted him asleep at

the wheel of his Tesla Model S, cruising down California 101.

Officers overtook the car and, over several miles, got it to stop by slowing down in front of it.

NEW PICKUP CHATTER Hyundai is still at work on its Santa Cruz pickup concept, which is being designed by Luc Donckerwolke. The vehicle, which would share a platform with the Tucson compact crossover, has been described

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on’t look for Toyota to abandon car models in the way that Detroit’s Big Three have done to favor more profitable SUVs and crossovers. Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz told the Detroit Economic Club in early December that while his company is weighing its product balance on a constant basis, it will always favor cars.

Lentz concedes that car sales had dipped below 30 percent of overall sales for November, but he sees that as being the bottom of the trend. Car buyers, he noted, are still snapping up more than 4 million compacts, mid-size and full-size cars every year. “There’s no way I’m going to walk away from that,” Lentz told the Associated Press. “We are always going to have a bias toward passenger cars.”

Toyota’s sales figures suggested total car sales volume looked to be down 11.6 percent year over year near the end of 2018, while total truck sales were up 8.8 percent through November.

Car sales for 2018 amount to a depression, he conceded, but through November Toyota still managed to sell about 314,000 Camrys and 278,000 Corollas, putting those models as the company’s second and third best-selling vehicles, respectively, behind the RAV4 at roughly 389,000 units.

While Toyota may be committed to cars, it reportedly has considered chopping a lower-selling model. Possible victims might include the subcompact Yaris, Prius C or 86 sports coupe. n

as a “lifestyle” vehicle with modern styling.

TRUMP TALK Top executives from German carmakers Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler met at the White House in December for a talk on U.S. trade policy. President Donald Trump, who has been critical of German automakers, urged them at the meeting to increase their U.S. investments.

GM PLANS MASSIVE CUTS General Motors announced major global restructuring in late 2018, saying it would reduce its North American production and salaried and executive workforce. GM said it would not allocate any production to Oshawa Assembly in Ontario, Lordstown Assembly in Ohio and DetroitHamtramck Assembly in Michigan by the end of 2019.

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Even ‘Fill ‘Er Up’ Has An App Now

he nation’s first gas station opened in November 1913 at Baum Boulevard and St. Clair Street in Pittsburgh, according to automotive history. Presumably, the restrooms were too dirty to use by early December.

Now an onsite fuel-delivery service based in Birmingham hopes to erase the inconveniences and unpleasantry of gas station chores from your life. FuelFox Founder and CEO Ben Morris recently launched the new app for iOS and Android mobile devices to both fleet services and individual memberships.

Through its app, users can quickly become registered members of FuelFox to schedule future tank fill-ups at dedicated locations throughout the Birmingham area (known as Fox Spots). The company’s weekly fueling schedules quickly can be found on the app and website.

FuelFox services Fox Spots on a schedule on the same day and same time each week. Members receive reminder notifications the night before and the day of notifying them that FuelFox will be at their preferred Fox Spot that day. Members do not need to be present during service calls. Windshields are cleaned, tire treads and pressure checked, and members are notified of any potential issues with their vehicle.

FuelFox members pay a $20 monthly subscription fee, plus the AAA average gas price for the county. The individual membership allows for four fill-ups per month. Family membership fees are $40 per month for up to five individuals on a plan. n

Top Gear Picks Volvo XC40 As ‘Most Sensible’ SUV for 2018

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t some point in your life you’ll likely trade “edgy” for “sensible.” When that happens, Volvo has the SUV for you, according to the editors at Top Gear magazine.

That publication in December named the Volvo XC40 as the year’s most sensible SUV, which it conceded is something resembling faint praise in certain circles. But at some point, you’re going to need those monster-sized armrest bins and out-of-sight parcel shelf.

The XC40 is a good-looking vehicle, Top Gear notes, probably betterlooking than its competition, which includes the Jag E-Pace, Mercedes-Benz GLA and BMW X2. It comes with 18-inch alloys and LED headlights standard, door pockets big enough to consume a standard-sized laptop, and plenty of room for child and animal companions. It also wins high safety ratings from the Euro NCAP rankings.

Don’t be afraid to be sensible, Top Gear counsels. If you’re in the market for a small SUV, the XC40 has the tech, the space and the design to carry you forward in style.

The Volvo XC40 is currently built at the company’s factory in Ghent, Belgium but sales are high enough that Volvo plans to start building the model elsewhere, including at its plant in Luqiao, China. n

FORD ADJUSTS IN KENTUCKY Ford Motor Co. will slash one of the three shifts at its Louisville Assembly Plant, but affected workers will get a shot at jobs at the nearby Kentucky Truck Plant. The change is expected in the spring.

A MERCEDES-TESLA DEAL? Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently expressed interest in working with Mercedes-Benz on projects, perhaps involving an

electric version of the Mercedes Sprinter van. Daimler at one point had a 9 percent interest in Tesla.

ODYSSEY VANS RECALLED Honda issued a recall in late 2018 for 2018 and 2019 Odyssey minivans due to a defect that can cause the sliding doors to open while the van is in motion. Some parts in the doors of Odyssey vans made since April 2018 can stick,

preventing them from properly latching.

VOLVO’S NO-CAR SHOW Volvo got considerable media attention late last year for “unveiling nothing” at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The company was pushing its agenda of shifting focus away from hardware and more to mobility services like car sharing and subscription services.

ALL HAIL THE RAV4 For 2019 the fifth-generation RAV4 compact SUV is muscularlooking, packs considerable offroad punch and sports a pretty considerable sticker price which likely won’t slow down its many fans. Toyota has been making the model now for 22 years, introducing it back when Bill Clinton was president.

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B E N C HM A R K S

Cooper Tire & Rubber Opens Distribution Center In Mississippi

Honda Alabama Again Sees Record Output For

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ooper Tire and Rubber recently opened a $10 million tire distribution center in Byhalia, Mississippi, built

by Panattoni Development Co. The 93,000-squaremeter facility, in the Gateway Global Logistics Centre, will allow the Findlay, Ohio-based company to consolidate and distribute products from three production facilities.

Overall, the investment will have a $50.5 million impact, according to the Mississippi Development Authority.

Cooper Tire’s manufacturing facilities are located in Tupelo, Mississippi, Findley, Ohio, and Texarkana, Arkansas.

“We are excited to have now opened this new facility, which serves to enhance our logistics infrastructure, supporting our efforts to offer exceptional service to our customers as we get tires to them when and where they want them,” said Bob Sager, Cooper’s director of supply chain. “This facility is a complement to our existing US distribution network that includes six regional distribution centers, three plant manufacturing warehouses and a mixing warehouse, making Cooper even more flexible and responsive to customer needs.”

The warehouse could potentially expand by another 37,000 square meters should business require the additional space, company officials say.

Third quarter net sales for Cooper Tire were reported at $738 million, an increase of 0.5 percent compared the third quarter of 2017. Operating profit was $81 million compared to $111 million for the same period last year. n

N E W S

H U B

CHECKING THE PAPERWORK Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Motors, together the world’s no.

5 automaker, got unwelcome attention recently from U.S. prosecutors suggesting that the companies improperly conducted a recall involving 1.7 million vehicles in 2015 and 2017 for an engine failure.

BE SEXY, GERMANY Germany’s Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier

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onda Manufacturing of Alabama assembled more than 356,000 vehicles and engines at its Talladega County plant, according to preliminary totals for 2018.

HMA built 189,964 Pilot SUVs, a record now two years in the running, according to company figures, along with 120,427 Odyssey minivans and 46,178 Ridgeline pickups.

The company also began production in December of the 2019 Honda Passport. Honda re-introduced the Passport in November at the Los Angeles auto show, a move to give more options for customers looking for an off-road capable SUV. The Alabama production facility is the exclusive global producer for those four vehicles.

The Passport will fill a critical spot in allowing Honda to meet demands of the U.S. light truck market. “As we have seen in the market, SUVs are extremely popular and we see an opportunity to expand customer choice with a five-passenger, V6-powered SUV that slots between the Honda CR-V and the Pilot in our lineup,” HMA Vice President Mike Oatridge says.

The Talladega County plant, which has seen a total $2.6 billion of investment since it began operations, benefitted from two expansions in 2018. An $85 million project added 400,000 square feet of logistics space while a separate $54.8 million expansion was done to improve welding operations on Line 2, as well as add production space.

Honda’s assembly plant in Alabama currently employs 4,500 workers. n

chided German automakers in November while taking part in a panel discussion about artificial intelligence. “When will you build an electric car that is only half as sexy as a Tesla?”

Altmaier asked auto executives in attendance, according to media reports.

expressions, according to research published in the Annals of Tourism Research.

While cars have always been a popular place for erotic ventures, robot cars will greatly increase the time available for such activities, the report noted.

ONE WAY TO PASS TIME Self-driving vehicles will give people time to eat, sleep and even exchange romantic

TALLYING TARIFFS Chris Reynolds, in charge of North American manufacturing for Toyota, recently expressed

18 | Southern Automotive Alliance | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

optimism regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. “We’re OK with where the USMCA landed,” Reynolds told the Associated Press. The deal still must be approved by Congress.

MORE DETAILS EXPECTED Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co. are exploring a deeper alliance that would potentially allow the German automaker to

Toyota Wants A Robot In Every Household

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elding and painting on the factory floor may be time well spent for robots, but Toyota Motor Corp. envisions a far greater role: helping out an aging society where millions of senior citizens live

alone.

The possibilities are endless, scientists say. Robots could do laundry, load dishwashers, carry groceries and address myriad other personal chores.

But why Toyota? Why not, notes Bloomberg News, noting that the company has $29 billion in cash reserves, a head start on artificial intelligence and decades of experience putting robots to work in industrial settings.

Toyota’s experiments with robots date back to at least 2004 and include one humanoid version that was designed with artificial lips, lungs and pliable fingers, all so it could play trumpet. A more up-to-date version, the T-HR3, has cameras for eyes and can be manipulated remotely, via wearable controls and vision goggles.

Toyota’s AI-focused Toyota Research Institute in Silicon Valley, opened in 2015 for a billion dollars, is expected to speed up the company’s efforts to bring workable robots to the marketplace.

Consumers spent $2.1 billion last year on household robots, primarily to clean floors and mow yards. Toyota looks to widen that demand with its Human Support Robot, HSR for short, which offers a retractable arm on wheels to accomplish simple tasks for senior citizens in need of no-frill support. It’s described as the robot equivalent of a Corolla. Given that 22 percent of the world’s population will be over the age of 60 by 2050, Toyota believes a market will soon be in place. n

G

New INEOS Plant In Texas To Produce ASA By 2021

ermany-based INEOS Syrosolution announced plans in December to build a new ASA (acrylonitrile styrene acrylate) plant in Bayport, Texas to begin producing 100,000 metric tons per year by 2021.

INEOS is the only global producer with ASA production capacity in all regions.

It currently has a plant producing ASA in Altamira, Mexico. WorleyParsons Ltd. of North Sydney, Australia, has won the Texas contract for engineering, procurement and construction. Bayport is within the bay area of greater Houston.

“We continue to follow a strong growth path to meet customer needs, particularly in growth markets like the Americas,” INEOS CEO Kevin McQuade said in a statement.

Acrylonitrile styrene acrylate, also called acrylic styrene acrylonitrile, is a thermoplastic developed as an alternative to acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), but with improved weather resistance. Widely used in the automotive industry, its UV resistance and mechanical properties make it popular for molded parts, 3D printing and general prototyping.

INEOS Styrolution is a subcompany of INEOS and provides styrenics applications for many everyday products across a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, household, construction, healthcare, toys/sports/leisure and packaging. As of 2018 it employed 3,300 people worldwide. n

build vehicles at Ford facilities in the U.S. with extra capacity.

Both companies are dealing with slow sales in the world’s top auto markets, China and the U.S. HYUNDAI SUV NUMBERS UP Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama produced 322,000 vehicles in 2018, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce. It built 88,000 SUVs, up 51 percent from the previous year.

REINVENT THE BATTERY While automotive news feeds continue to marvel at the EV, there are still miles to go before the death of gas. A recent story in Bloomberg noted that the market won’t take off until EVs can deliver a 500-mile range on one charge, roughly equivalent to what you get from a tank of gas. Scientists are still working on it.

PASSAT PEEK Official Volkswagen press images revealed pre-embargo in mid-January show us an America-specific Passat not built on the company’s modular MQB platform. The sedan’s new facelift gives it a larger, more impressive grille that wraps a chrome grid around the low and wide headlamps.

More rear-seat legroom is also rumored.

CADILLAC’S THE STAR General Motors revved up the Detroit auto show by revealing that Cadillac would be its first electric vehicle brand. Images suggest it will be a crossover and the company promises more information as the plan solidifies.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | Southern Automotive Alliance 19

Mercedes Benz US International CEO Jason Hoff says his team is focused on serving the world market for the company’s luxury vehicles.

20 | Southern Automotive Alliance | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

EXECUTIVE Q&A

facing forward

Mercedes-Benz GLE SUV

INTERVIEW BY: GAIL ALLYN SHORT // PHOTOS COURTESY OF MBUSI

Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) CEO Jason Hoff talks production, next-gen automobiles and shaping the worker of tomorrow.

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he first Mercedes-Benz M-Class sport utility vehicle rolled off the German automaker’s Vance, Alabama, assembly line 22 years ago. At the time, DaimlerBenz AG, which today is Daimler AG, had invested some $300 million in its new Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (MBUSI) auto assembly plant. In preparation for that first rollout, some 70 trainers from Germany arrived in Vance to instruct the new Alabama production teams, according to the company.

Today, MBUSI team members are producing the car company’s new 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLE SUV. And as the company moves into its next decade in Alabama, MBUSI CEO Jason Hoff opens up about the assembly plant’s plans to manufacture next-gen electrified SUVs and batteries for a worldwide market and its strategies for attracting and training a skilled auto manufacturing workforce for the years to come. The interview took place in the last quarter of 2018.

Q: Two years ago, Mercedes announced plans for a $1.3 billion expansion of the MBUSI plant in Vance, including body shop and upgrades to the logistics and IT systems. Tell us about that.

Jason Hoff: For the most part, that work’s finished. We’re just now launching a new car. We started production a couple of weeks ago where we had the celebration about a week and half ago. So, now we’re getting into the phase of building cars

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | Southern Automotive Alliance 21

E X E C U TI V E

Q& A

[The workforce] doesn’t just come out of the existing population, so we need to continue to develop those people, and that’s where workforce development comes in, going out into the schools... so the last phase for the most part is behind us, and our new body shop is up and running.

Q: Tell us about the body shop.

JH: It is actually two body shops in one.

We’ve basically taken one body shop and coupled it and that’s the whole end of the same building. Each one is capable of a high volume of SUVs and is flexible as new technologies and access allows us to transport the bodies on the floor through what we call automated guided vehicles.

Q: In 2017, Mercedes announced plans to invest a billion dollars more toward electrification, including building a logistics hub and a plant to manufacture electric batteries.

What is the timeline for those projects?

JH: The main piece of our investment is

in our new battery plant and our ability to introduce electric vehicles. Our plan is to introduce electric vehicles in our production at the beginning of the next decade. … The equipment is being installed in it and operations will start in that building later this year. The second is the logistics. Construction has started, and our target is to take occupation some time later next year. And then the last piece is the battery plant. We just broke ground on the battery plant so we’ll start ground clearing and other things this fall, and we’ll start construction of the first piece of the building next year.

Q: You stated recently in an interview that expansion in Tuscaloosa County is part of Mercedes’ “flexible global network.”

What did you mean by that?

JH: Well, take for example our new

The next generation of Mercedes-Benz will go beyond the traditional internal combustion engine using technologies developing to serve changing customer expectations

22 | Southern Automotive Alliance | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

body shop. Our new body shop is capable of building not only our gas SUVs, but also, in the future, our electric SUVs. Similarly, our assembly shops will be able to build electric SUVs on the same line like that. So that’s what we mean by maintaining and ensuring a flexible production system, one that is capable of building both electrical and traditional combustion engines vehicles on the same production lines.

Are you concerned that the U.S. public’s interest or desire for electric vehicles and hybrids appears to be slow so far?

JH: We build for the world market. We export cars to 130 different countries, so we’re looking at the world market and what the demand is for our cars worldwide. And clearly, we see a demand for electric vehicles in specific markets in specific areas. I don’t think anybody has a crystal ball to say what the demand is going to look like in two years, five years, or even 10 years. But clearly, there is a market there, and we’re just trying to make sure that we serve that need.

Mercedes-Benz body shop.

Q: One thing drivers always want is improved gas mileage but they also want the large SUVs. How does your company balance those demands?

JH: If you look at when our new SUVs comes out next year and the following years, you’re going to see a significant improvement in fuel economy in those SUVs. … At the same time, the introduction of hybrids and electrical SUVS is going further to allow people to have a much higher fuel economy or lower emission standards but still not give up the luxuries, the things that they want in a full-sized SUV. Q: How important is workforce development to MBUSI? JH: It’s been a key initiative for us for the last few years in the automotive industry, not only in and around our plants but throughout the state, and, frankly throughout the Southeast. It [the workforce] doesn’t just come out of the existing population, so we need to continue to develop those people, and that’s where workforce development comes in, going out into the schools, whether it be the K-12 system, into the community colleges and even to an extent the universities and making sure that we’re offering the right courses,

the right programs to develop the skills needed for the automotive industry, but also to develop the right interest in the automotive industry.

Q: Tell us about your apprenticeship programs.

JH: We have two main apprenticeship programs. One is geared toward developing people for our maintenance positions. It starts with approximately a two-year program where the person comes out with a two-year technical degree. Then, they would go into further training once they become fulltime maintenance members at MBUSI. The other program is geared toward our production area. It also starts with a little less than a two-year program where a student would come out with a two-year degree. But, in that time, they would also get valuable experience in our production facility and be ready for a full-time position in production.

Q: What are some other ways you are reaching out to students in the local school systems?

JH: One of the major initiatives that West Alabama Works has done is to launch Worlds of Work, which actually took place [Oct. 11, 2018] at Shelton State Community College, where

eighth grade students throughout the Tuscaloosa county area come to Shelton State and get to see what industries exist in this area. Each industry has what they call a so-called “world,” and in their “world,” they can educate [students] and inform them as to what types of career opportunities are out there. And we’re doing that at a young age, eighth grade, so they understand that there are lots of different opportunities out there.

Not all of them require a four-year degree. In addition to that, we have a lot of high school juniors and seniors coming out there, and we’re obviously trying to tap into them, too, as they’re getting ready to make pretty big decisions in their life as to what they want to do after high school and just making sure that they understand what’s out there and what’s available.

Q: What do you expect to see in 2019 and moving into 2020 from the Vance plant in terms of new cars and exciting new features?

JH:We just launched our new GLE SUV a couple weeks ago and unveiled it at the Paris Auto Show that same week. We’re very excited about that car. We’ll follow that up with some other successors to our current SUVs like our GLS. n

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | Southern Automotive Alliance 23

INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

SOUTHERN PLANTS NOT LIKELY TO FOLLOW GM PLANT CLOSINGS

New plants, good labor relations, give southern plants stability TEXT BY: BILL GERDES

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he venerable Chevrolet Impala debuted 60 years ago and has been one of the bestselling vehicles ever. After two earlier discontinuances, on March 1, 2019, the Impala will be discontinued for the third time, as sedans fall out of favor and the new mobility movement gains momentum.

Last November, GM announced a restructuring in hopes of saving $6 billion by 2020. Once details are worked out, the company wants to close five North American facilities, cut six model offerings, and lay off thousands of employees. One of the six models is

the Impala, which at one time had achieved almost cult-like status.

“I’m 52 so I remember those days,” says Dave Ketchen, Harbert Eminent Scholar and professor of management at Auburn University and an auto industry observer. “But let’s be candid, the current Impala is a soulless car. In 2018 no little kids are begging their parents ‘please buy an Impala.’

Consumers have made it obvious that they are not interested in boring sedans. Dealers will probably be happy as long as plenty of Corvettes, Camaros,

24 | Southern Automotive Alliance | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

pick-up trucks, and SUVs arrive on their lots. That’s where the demand is.”

The plants GM is shutting down in the United States and Canada currently produce cars that include the Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Impala and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid. The company says its future production plans will focus on building more SUVs and trucks while also prioritizing

Lordstown, Ohio plant

battery-electric vehicles.

The GM plants impacted are in Lordstown, Ohio, where GM builds the Chevrolet Cruze compact car, and in Detroit-Hamtramck, where it builds the Chevrolet Volt and Impala, the Cadillac CT6 and the Buick LaCrosse sedans. Those plants will be without product allocation beyond 2019. Also, its factory in Oshawa, Ontario, and two transmission facilities will lose product allocation beyond next year. In total, some 6,200 factory jobs are in jeopardy.

GM says these production shifts will help the company increase cash flow to $6 billion by the end of 2020.

But, reports Automotive News, “outside pressure is mounting, and the groups applying it sound convinced that they can force the company to re-examine its decision and save at least one of the plants during the 2019 contract negotiations with the UAW.” According to Automotive News, “On paper, the Detroit-Hamtramck plant in Michigan appears to have the best survival chances. It’s newer, has received substantial investments in recent years and is closer to other

facilities - including GM’s battery plant and R&D operations - that are key to the automaker’s next generation of vehicles.”

“We recognize the need to stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences to position our company for long-term success,”

CEO Mary Barra said in a statement.

Like other auto manufacturers, GM is investing heavily in the mobility movement: state-of-the-art electrification, autonomous vehicles and ride-sharing technologies.

Ford, which already was moving toward more mobility, announced

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I N D US T R Y

O U TLO O K

Barring a recession, I’d be surprised if we see any retrenchment involving southern auto plants, at least in the short term. Most of the relevant brands – Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Kia, and Hyundai, for example – are performing well in the marketplace. —Dave Ketchen,

Harbert Eminent Scholar and professor of management at Auburn University

in December it is making even more production changes and job cuts that will affect workers in two metropolitan Detroit plants.

Ford said it will add 500 jobs at the Livonia plant, moving 650 employees from Flat Rock, Michigan.

The Van Dyke Transmission plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, will cut 230 full time hourly jobs and the Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing plant is cutting 25 temporary part time jobs.

Those workers in Dearborn have already been offered new jobs within Ford. The same will happen in Sterling Heights.

“As we continue to rebalance our production to match capacity with customer demand, we are planning a reduction of approximately 230 jobs at Van Dyke Transmission Plant in the first quarter of 2019. All full-time hourly employees affected will be offered jobs at another Ford plant,” a Ford statement says.

President Donald Trump says he disapproves of GM’s plant closing and layoffs and tweeted that his

Livonia Transmission Plant in Michigan.

26 | Southern Automotive Alliance | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

administration is looking at cutting all GM subsidies, including those for electric cars.

That could be a problem for GM. The company’s restructuring plan is largely intended to help it clear the way for an electric-centric, autonomousvehicle future.

But the plants GM is closing are in the upper Mid-West and Canada.

Are auto manufacturers in the South pondering similar moves?

“Baseball legend Yogi Berra wryly noted that predictions are hard to make, especially about the future,” says Ketchen. “But barring a recession, I’d be surprised if we see any retrenchment involving southern auto plants, at least in the short term. Most of the relevant brands – MercedesBenz, BMW, Kia, and Hyundai, for example – are performing well in the marketplace. New products such as BMW’s large SUV, the X7, are being introduced regularly. The foreign brands that operate in the South have good labor relations and do not need

BMW X7

to rattle their sabers to get concessions from unions. Tariffs are troublesome but we are halfway through the president’s term. Looking down the road, if Trump is re-elected in 2020 and his administration emphasizes tariffs in his second term, we might see some pullbacks. But I think the attitude for now will be ‘wait and see.’”

Ketchen says the South’s relatively more recent entry into auto manufacturing — compared, for instance with Detroit or Ohio — means that by and large, southern plants are considerably newer than their northern counterparts.

“They have more flexible layouts and a greater capability to accommodate automation. The Kia plant in West Point, Georgia, began production in 2009 and the facility was expanded and upgraded in 2012.

Having toured the plant, the level of technical sophistication is mindblowing,” Ketchen says. “This plant and others in the South are moving targets and older plants in the North will have a hard time keeping up. GM’s DetroitHamtramck plant – one of the ones slated for closing – was opened in 1985.”

Ketchen contends that family homes provide a good analogy. “A house built in 2012 is going to be much easier to adapt to newer technologies such as tankless water heaters, than a house built in 1985. We can also

imagine a drag race between Corvettes made in 2012 and 1985 – no contest.”

Ketchen says GM could help its dealers by putting a high performance engine in an SUV or a pick-up.

“Vehicles such as the Ford Raptor, the Jeep Trackhawk, the BMW X5M, and the Mercedes-Benz AMG GLE63 build brand prestige within key market segments and these vehicles typically enjoy high margins,” Ketchen says.

“Now Jaguar is joining the race by putting a supercharged V-8 engine in the F-Pace. Imagine a Buick or Cadillac SUV with a Corvette or Camaro engine.

I think dealers would be selling those at sticker price and they might even have waiting lists.”

According to the Detroit News, GM’s electrification efforts are expanding in the U.S. and abroad as the Detroit automaker moves toward its goal of introducing 20 electric vehicles by 2023.

With gas and diesel costs bouncing around and a growing concern for tackling ever increasing pollution, electrification is a highly viable option.

According to a McKinsey report, by 2030, the share of electrified vehicles (hybrid, plug-in, battery electric, and fuel cell) could range from 10 percent to 50 percent of new-vehicle sales.

That said, Ketchen notes that “South Korean battery maker SK Innovation just announced a plan to build a billion-dollar plant in Georgia

that will break ground in 2019 and begin production in 2022. Certainly that level of investment signals that SK is quite optimistic about future production in the southern U.S.” The investment is estimated at $1.67 billion and, according to SK Innovation, it will create more than 2,000 jobs. The first phase ($1 billion and more than 1,000 jobs) will begin in early 2019.

SK Innovation says that its new Georgia factory will become “the largest scale electric vehicle battery plant in the United States.”

German automotive group Mercedes-Benz and South Korea’s Hyundai-Kia Motors were mentioned among SK Innovation’s customers.

It is also worth noting that new language for the AV Start Act, a bill that has lingered in congressional limbo for almost a year, is beginning to circulate through the U.S. Senate, Ketchen says.

The bill, the American Vision for Safer Transportation through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies Act, would create a loose framework for the testing and deployment of automated vehicles.

Meanwhile, as all these potential changes play out, Ketchen expects to continue cruising to his job at Auburn University in his 6-cylinder supercharged 2017 Jaguar F-Pace, saving his 2008 BMW M3 and his 1967 AustinHealey 3000 for the weekends. n

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | Southern Automotive Alliance 27

INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

NEW USMCA STILL HAS A WAY TO GO BEFORE BECOMING OFFICIAL

New Democratic house may be an issue for USMCA TEXT BY: BILL GERDES // PHOTO BY: STATE DEPARTMENT, RON PRZYSUCHA

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overnment negotiators have finished crafting the U.S.–Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) which replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and now the parties that will be impacted by the new agreement get their turn.

The signing last November marked the formal conclusion of more than a year of trilateral haggling that produced the USMCA but before the agreement can take effect, it has to win ratification in Congress where

Democrats have a majority in the House as of January 2019.

The original 1994 pact will remain in effect until the new one is ratified, but uncertainties abound and tariffs on steel and aluminum continue to be a major problem.

Some industry observers say the time lag will give detractors and supporters the chance to review how the provisions will be carried out and enforced, and even though the agreement is signed, how they will affect businesses. The pact will go through “implementing legislation” to make it fit with U.S. laws, and

28 | Southern Automotive Alliance | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

through statements that the Trump administration is required to provide to the Congress is supposed to explain how the agreement will be monitored and enforced.

“I think it won’t have any problems passing in Canada or Mexico,” says Kristin Dziczek, vice president, industry, labor and economics, at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

“The problems in the U.S. in the Congress are not just about the continuation of the steel and aluminum tariffs, but also concerns that Democrats in the House may share with the United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO about the content not being high enough and the labor provisions not being stringent enough.

“So while many argue that it raises

the costs of vehicles in the U.S. and in North America, The AFL-CIO and the UAW have essentially made their positions known. They are concerned that enforcement mechanisms are not there and with the labor value content rule at $16 an hour, you can average your way to getting over that threshold and that it is not really a binding rule,” Dziczek says.

According to an analysis by The Washington Post, “This agreement stipulates that at least 30 percent of cars (rising to 40 percent by 2023) must be made by workers earning $16 an hour, about three times the typical manufacturing wage in Mexico now.

USMCA also stipulates that Mexico must make it easier for workers to form unions. The AFL-CIO is cautiously optimistic that this truly is a better deal for U.S. and Canadian workers in terms of keeping jobs from going to lowerpaying Mexico or to Asia, although labor is looking carefully at how the new rules will be enforced. It’s possible this could accelerate automation, but that would take time.”

The Post also says economists and

auto experts think USMCA is going to cause car prices in the United States to rise and the selection to decrease, especially on small cars that used to be produced in Mexico but may no longer be able to be brought across the border duty-free. It’s unclear how much prices could rise, but automakers can’t rely as heavily on cheap Mexican labor now and there will probably be higher compliance costs.

With the signing, “the whole region becomes a good basis to invest in the car industry,” Jesus Seade, the NAFTA negotiator for Mexico’s president Lopez Obrador, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television last November.

“The car industry is the most important part of the agreement; it’s where most of the trade takes place. There will have to be more investment by Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, and the Germans and Koreans. That can go to all three countries in different ways.”

Steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico, once seen as a pressure tactic in trade talks, remain in place and pose another roadblock for the USMCA’s approval in Congress,

according to Politico.com Lawmakers on both sides have expressed displeasure that the duties remain in place despite the new deal.

American industries and agricultural concearns are still taking hits from the retaliatory tariffs levied by the two U.S. neighbors on more than $15 billion worth of U.S. goods.

“If you’re trying to whip votes, you’d take advantage of the opportunity to lift that instead of leaving an irritant on the table,” a former United State Trade Representative told POLITICO. “It’s going to make [administration officials’] lives harder to get Congress on board as constituents are complaining a lot about the harm of the ongoing tariffs.”

Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, issued a statement shortly after the USMCA was signed on November 30, 2019 indicating that he still has some concerns about the negotiated agreement.

“Over the coming months I will push to see that these concerns are addressed before Congress considers this proposal,” he said at the time. To

President Trump, Canadian President Justin Trudeau, and then-Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto sign the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement during a ceremony in Buenos Aires, November 30, 2018.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | Southern Automotive Alliance 29

I N D US T R Y

O U TLO O K

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon is one of several Democratic lawmakers who has raised questions about the USMCA in its current form.

implement the USMCA, a majority in each chamber of Congress is required to pass the law. As a result of the mid-term congressional elections in November, President Trump is going to need bipartisan support in order to obtain that majority.

Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, issued the following statement following President Trump’s signing of the USMCA: “We appreciate the administration’s continued efforts to modernize our nation’s existing trade agreements and help grow U.S. automotive manufacturing with new agreements like the USMCA. We

commend the negotiators for crafting an agreement that keeps the United States and North American automotive manufacturing competitive and for including important provisions that require the acceptance of vehicles built to U.S. safety standards and address currency manipulation. However, we remain concerned that the continued imposition of steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico will undermine the benefits of the USMCA. We strongly encourage the parties to come to a resolution and relieve the undue burden that has been placed on U.S. manufacturers.”

Meanwhile, as the USMCA

agreement inches along, there remains the question of exactly how the US – China tariff spat will impact the automotive industry.

According to Forbes.com, “Motor vehicle exports bound for China, the second-largest market after Canada, fell $599.29 million from the previous August. Unlike with soybeans and oil, where the decline was more precipitous, the 55.65 percent drop in August was preceded by a $296.16 million, 46.69 percent drop in July, and a $506.30 million, 50.32 percent decline in June.”

China announced in December a 90-day suspension of tariff hikes on

The problems in the U.S. in the Congress are not just about the continuation of the steel and aluminum tariffs, but also concerns that Democrats in the House may share with the United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO about the content not being high enough and the labor provisions not being stringent enough. —

Kristin Dziczek, vice president, industry, labor and economics, at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the USMCA. 30 | Southern Automotive Alliance | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

$126 billion of U.S. cars, trucks and auto parts following its cease-fire in a trade battle with Washington. The suspension is China’s first step in response to Trump’s Dec. 1 agreement to suspend U.S. tariff hikes for a similar 90-day period while the two sides negotiate over American complaints about Beijing’s technology policy and trade surplus. Beijing was expected to suspend a 25 percent import charge on $66 billion of cars and trucks and a 5 percent charge on $60 billion of auto parts, effective Jan. 1, the Finance Ministry announced.

Here’s a quick rundown of the procedure the deal would have to go through, according to BusinessInsider.com: • Within 60 days after the deal is signed (Nov. 30): The Trump administration must notify Congress of necessary changes to U.S. law that need to be made to enact the deal.

• Within 150 days after the deal is signed: The US International Trade Commission must release a report on the economic impact of the deal.

• At least 30 days before the deal is formally submitted as a bill to Congress: The text of the implementing legislation must be released.

The bill is considered by committees in the House and Senate and voted on.

The implementing bill would start in the House and be passed in a matter of days or could take months, depending on Congress’ wishes.

At this point, it is likely that a “mock markup” bill will be submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, to allow for non-binding input from these committees. Once the text of the bill is finalized, it will be introduced in the House of Representatives, and then must pass through both houses of Congress with a simple majority. The President can then implement the agreement via proclamation, including the date the agreement is to come into force. n

TO A DV E R T I S E I N

Contact Chandler Busby at 205-802-6363 Ext. 103 or cbusby@pmtpublishing.com

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INNOVATION

Electric bikes and self-propelled scooters are last-mile mobility solutions being tested in Seaside, Florida in conjunction with automated shuttles.

Meeting the Need for Speed South Carolina’s ITIC offers a 1-mile track for highspeed testing – plus tech tools for refining electric and autonomous vehicles TEXT BY: LINDA H. LAMB // PHOTO COURTESEY OF: ITIC

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f it didn’t take a zillion tests to make new vehicles road-worthy, a lot of crash dummies would be out of work – and a lot of automotive researchers, too. But sophisticated simulators and high-tech research facilities can’t always get the job done.

Sometimes, there’s a need for speed.

In upstate South Carolina, the International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC) aims to meet that need with a mile-long test track that allows for safe, efficient testing of functions ranging from braking ability and wind noise evaluations, to “coast-down” testing of electric vehicles’ energy consumption.

Add in features geared to shifting industry trends and priorities – wireless charging, for example – and ITIC

appears well-positioned to serve the region’s growing automotive network.

“As an academic researcher I find the wide, one-mile track quite unique as it allows testing at highway speeds in a safe controlled environment,” says Ardalan Vahidi, a mechanical engineering professor at nearby Clemson University.

He’s currently working on a U.S. Department of Energy-funded project designed to improve energy efficiency in automated vehicles.

“The (300-foot) width of the track allows us to comfortably make loops and therefore avoid interruptions in the test process,” Vahidi says. “The off-road testing region is another unique feature that can challenge off-road autonomous vehicles to different degrees. It could be a unique hub for new off-road research

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and development projects.”

ITIC Executive Director Jody Bryson also is president and CEO of the South Carolina Technology & Innovation Center, the 2,600-acre industrial and research park in which ITIC is located just southwest of Greenville. He points to the park’s economic impact of some $2 billion in the region, with ITIC’s role in the automotive ecosystem an important component.

“We’re unique within the state, and we have a statewide impact,” Bryson says.

Vision For Changing Times Bryson’s background in economic development includes having a front-row seat as South Carolina developed into an auto industry hub.

He’s a former executive adviser to the late South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell, whose energetic approach was credited as key to attracting BMW to the state. The BMW plant near Spartanburg started production in 1994 and has had a ripple effect on the economy.

Upon taking charge of the park

in 2007, Bryson decided a branding decision was needed.

The sprawling park, which includes a small airport, is co-owned

by Greenville County and the city of Greenville. It was an Army Air base during World War II and still has Lockheed Martin as its major occupant. The park was long known as Donaldson Center.

No offense to Capt. John Donaldson, the World War I flying ace for whom it was named, but the place needed a name more likely to show up in an internet search. So, the park became the South Carolina Technology & Innovation Center, SCTAC for short.

Despite recession pressures on the auto industry, Bryson envisioned ITIC in 2010 as a global economic resource – a player in both auto manufacturing and academic research. He and Joachim Taiber, chief technology officer, have worked to make that vision come true.

Its nonprofit status allows ITIC to receive private and public grant funding.

Bryson also stresses that ITIC isn’t tied to any one manufacturer or academic institution, to encourage a variety of collaborative partnerships.

But collaborations were inevitable with Clemson’s International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), founded in 2007, just a few miles away.

Taiber, who first worked for BMW in his native Germany, was involved in planning ICAR and has connections there. A recent vehicle in Clemson’s innovative series of concept cars, Deep Orange 8, was tested on the ITIC track.

Taiber, who joined ITIC in 2016, says simulators and other tech tools can’t take the place of road tests.

“Auto manufacturers will need testing, and ideally it should be done close to their plants,” Taiber says. He

adds that a test bed like ITIC’s also can serve suppliers of automotive components, such as sensors.

With an eye to the future, ITIC has developed features to serve an array of customer needs. These include: • Varied surfaces (asphalt, concrete, off-road) • Dedicated short-range communications network • Electric vehicle charging • A dedicated fire department on duty 24/7 • Rental options from half a day to a week • Power supply for rapid recharging

Riding The Trends Electric and autonomous vehicles are top-of-mind in South Carolina as they are elsewhere. When Volvo Car USA broke ground on its first American factory near Charleston in 2015, the company announced it would produce only electric and hybrid vehicles.

So it’s no coincidence that Bryson journeyed to Sweden for an auto summit in February 2018. “We’ve made [Volvo] aware of our test bed and our capabilities … and we’re prepared if they call,” he says.

Taiber says important areas for testing electric vehicles include

ITIC Executive Director Jody Bryson stands at one end of ITIC’s mile-long test track. ITIC is a nonprofit, OEM-neutral automotive testbed located at the heart of the Southeast’s automotive cluster.

Auto manufacturers will need testing, and ideally it should be done close to their plants.

— Joachim Taiber, chief technology officer, International Transportation Innovation Center

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I N N OV AT I O N

Development of autonomous vehicles requires much testing for debugging, improvement and certification, and not all of these can be done on open roads. — Ardalan Vahidi, mechanical engineering professor, Clemson University

The underbelly of this Toyota Scion was outfitted with a specially designed plate allowing electricity to be transferred wirelessly to the car’s battery. The photos were taken at ITIC during a successful demonstration of the WPT technology for Dept. of Energy officials in 2015.

determining the optimal infrastructure for charging, tracking energy use during various maneuvers, and paring down charging time from the now-typical 30 minutes to the preferable 15 minutes.

As autonomous vehicles come into wider use, Taiber believes ITIC is well-suited to handle testing for those.

Vahidi agrees.

“Development of autonomous vehicles requires much testing for debugging, improvement and certification, and not all of these can be done on open roads,” Vahidi says.

“Accidents that happened recently with autonomous cars underline the importance of test track testing before road deployment.

“Given that most of the autonomous testing has happened on the west coast and some in the Midwest, ITIC can play the role of an east coast hub for testing autonomous vehicles, electric and hybrid vehicles included,” he says.

Vahidi was involved in an intriguing project involving autonomous vehicle research, reported by Clemson in March 2017. Its goal would win applause from many a motorist: To reduce the 7 billion hours a year that Americans spend stuck at traffic lights.

Vahidi and another researcher used the ITIC track to set up a simulated

intersection, marked by orange traffic cones. Driving their own vehicles, they used smartphone apps to test a system regulating traffic with a cellular network centered in the intersection itself – not in traffic lights, which so often leave us waiting for red circles to turn green.

It’s not the flying cars of The Jetsons, but it does envision a future urban environment in which all the vehicles are autonomous.

Along that line, ITIC also is working with the 30A Mobility Project of the Seaside Institute in Florida. The goal is to seek solutions for environmental and traffic congestion problems facing Seaside, a planned community in the Florida panhandle.

Collaborative Approach As Bryson and his ITIC team work to handle logistics for any conceivable task related to automotive testing, they’ve also made the facility available for other purposes.

Both the Greenville Police Department and Greenville County Sheriff’s Department have used the main ITIC track for training on high-speed maneuvers and chase scenarios. Greenville Police Corp. Mark Huntington calls it an ideal location for simulating situations officers may

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encounter on the job.

Bryson and Taiber praised the probusiness atmosphere in the Greenville area, located along the Interstate 85 corridor between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Atlanta.

“I really don’t have to worry too much about the politics of things here in the upstate of South Carolina,” Bryson says. “They are mindful of this area as an economic engine of the state, and they would like to keep it that way.”

Having weathered the last recession, Bryson and Taiber know today’s promising trend can become tomorrow’s thorny crisis. But they believe they can continue to fine-tune ITIC’s testing capabilities to not only boost the regional economy, but help create the vehicles of the future.

“When the next down cycle comes,” Taiber says, “the survivors will be those that make interesting cars that customers want.” n

Former U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx used ITIC as a backdrop to tout his department’s newly released guidelines for automated driving technologies in 2015.

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VISION

Ride of a Lifetime

Sean Suggs, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi, shares how perseverance took him from a childhood picking tobacco in North Carolina to the corporate boardroom.

TEXT BY GAIL ALLYN SHORT // PHOTO COURTESY OF TOYOTA MOTOR MANUFACTURING MISSISSIPPI

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n his 2015 self-published memoir, I Hear My Angel Sing, Sean Suggs, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi (TMMM), describes his early childhood experiences, including his parents’ divorce, his mother having to move with her children back to rural North Carolina to live with their grandmother, and how for a year, he and his siblings picked tobacco and fruit on a nearby farm—from dawn to 6 p.m.— to help support the family.

“It taught me that you must work hard to achieve great things in life,” says Suggs. “It also taught that I wanted more in life than just being a field worker.”

Suggs says in his memoir that he and his family later moved to Baltimore to an inner city neighborhood rocked by violence, drugs and lack of opportunity. There, he struggled, describing himself as a so-so student

with a spotty school attendance record.

But, Suggs says, he always dreamed of a better life for himself.

“Growing up in the inner city of Baltimore,” says Suggs, “not having the most stable family a person could have, but having a personal belief that I could do more and achieve more, I think a lot of perseverance has gotten me to the level I’m at.”

That perseverance eventually led him to Oakland City College in Oakland City, Indiana, where he earned his bachelor’s degree. In 1998, he took a job at Toyota, working at the company’s Princeton, Indiana, plant on the factory floor.

“I started at Toyota on-line as a team leader,” he says. “I was able to do the jobs that my team members currently do. So I can relate to them in a lot of ways on some of their struggle points and some of the things they may

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need to make their jobs more efficient and better.”

“Having those kinds of experiences in my life,” says Suggs, “have helped me to understand every level of the organization and maybe some of the struggles they may have. But it’s a continuous improvement process. I’m always learning every single day on how to improve.”

Suggs later earned his business administration degree at Auburn University. Then in 2011, he left Toyota to work for Nissan at its North American headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee.

There, he rose through the ranks, directing areas from strategy and administration to human resources.

Additionally, Toyota put him in charge of production quality at its Canton, Mississippi, manufacturing and assembly plant.

Meanwhile, the year Suggs made the leap to Nissan, Toyota began assembling Corollas at its newly constructed vehicle manufacturing plant in the village of Blue Springs, Mississippi, 20 miles northwest of Tupelo. At the time, Blue Springs was home to fewer than 230 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Then, in 2014, Suggs returned to Toyota, becoming vice-president of administration at the Blue Springs plant. Three years later, in December 2017, the company named him as TMMM’s president and vice president of administration.

By the end of 2018, the plant was on target to produce some 142,000 Corollas, according to information provided by the plant.

Today, he oversees some 2,000 team members at the Blue Springs plant.

He says TMMM’s team members are engaged in carrying out the company slogan, “Start Your Impossible,” and fulfilling Toyota’s core value, kaizen, meaning the continual effort to make

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 | Southern Automotive Alliance 37

VI SI O N

improvements in the company’s manufacturing processes.

“We’re trying to transition into a mobility company for Toyota,” says Suggs, “and in order to do that, we’ve got to think differently, and our actions have to be different, and our motivations have to be innovation and looking toward the future. So ‘Start Your Impossible’ is giving everybody the challenge to say ‘What can I do differently today that can add value to the company?’

“Our challenge here in Mississippi is to get our team members to think of the small kaizens or continuous improvements that they can make in their process every single day,” he says.

“And as we build on those small things, the big things will happen. So, ‘Starting Our Impossible’ here is real. We believe in it. Our team members have bought in and at the end of the day, the results count and matter.”

One new program the plant launched in 2018 is called, ‘Find It and Fix It’ where team members are encouraged and empowered to not only find problems along the production lines, but to fix the problems themselves whenever possible.

Suggs says team members have already generated many ideas.

“They’re empowered to make change,” says Suggs. “At the end of the day, they own the processes. They’re

TMMM’s team members are engaged in carrying out the company slogan, “Start Your Impossible,” and fulfilling Toyota’s core value, kaizen, meaning the continual effort to make improvements in the manufacturing process

the experts. They know what makes those processes tick.”

The plant also benefits from an Advanced Manufacturing Technician (AMT) program offered through Itawamba Community College, Suggs says. AMT students can earn a twoyear associate’s degree to become an advanced manufacturing technician.

Students in the program attend classes two days a week, learning topics such as fabrication, electricity, robotics and mechanics. In addition to their classwork, the students also get handson experience working at the TMMM plant two to three days a week.

“It’s been a good program to fill that skilled labor gap,” he says. “But what it has also done for us is that it has taught some of the members who have come here to think more innovatively on how to take the process to the next level.”

He says one recent innovation involved a new conveyance system with a safety buffer designed to prevent injuries as it conveys vehicle parts to the line.

“It’s really good innovative technology that we’re using now,” he

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says. “It’s things like that that get the creative juices flowing with some of our members who have participated in that program. So far we have had really good success with the AMT.” Besides his role at the plant, Suggs has also been active in the community.

His activities have included serving on the nine-member Mississippi State Board of Education, the Mississippi Economic Council’s executive committee and on the Mississippi Manufacturers Association Board.

Suggs is married with six children ranging from 23 to 31 and two grandchildren, he says.

“If that doesn’t keep me busy enough,” says Suggs, “I really enjoy playing golf. It’s my stress reliever. I think the reason I’m so attracted to it is because it takes me away, but also it’s a very difficult sport. So, it’s challenging, and it keeps me on my toes.”

He also enjoys writing, he says. In addition to his memoir, Suggs also self-published a book on leadership a few years ago. He gave the book an attention-grabbing title, Kiss My @#$ Leadership, which he says is actually an acronym for leadership principles he teaches: Kindle, Intellect, Simply Lead, Servant Leadership, Money Maker, You, Attitude, Systems and Succession.

In the meantime, inside the TMMM plant, it is all about teamwork, he says.

“We have a one team spirit,” he says. “We preach that all the time. You think about putting over 2000 parts together for each vehicle. It takes a lot of teamwork and a lot of drive. And the results have shown that we’ve been doing a good job of practicing that.”

Looking back, Suggs says he originally took the job at Toyota not only to support his family, but because he wanted an exciting career. He says the company delivered on that.

“What a great ride this has been.” n

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TEXT BY: NANCY HENDERSON // PHOTOS: KERRY WOO, BRUCE SWEETMAN

IN THE FAST LANE Lane Motor Museum showcases the largest collection of European cars and motorcycles in the U.S.

eff Lane was just 10 years old when he helped his dad take apart a dilapidated MG TF in their hometown of Romeo, Michigan, 30 miles north of Detroit. Two years later, when his father, an accountant who owned an automotive supply business, asked him what he wanted for Christmas, Lane replied, “An MG TF of my own.”

Lane spent the next four years restoring pieces of the 1955 British two-seater and eventually took his driver’s test in it. “The [family] business was cars and our hobby 40 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

was cars,” he says, noting the legacy of his retired grandfather, who at one time owned a Ford dealership.

“So I was kind of immersed in it.”

Over the years, as his career took him from government work back home to the engineering department of his dad’s company, he began to acquire classic cars. When he moved to Nashville in 1989 to start a vending company, his collection kicked into high gear.

“I had a few rental houses and I would never rent the

Jeff Lane, far right, founder of Lane Motor Museum (with, left to right, Stefano De Simoni, and Michael Hüby): “I never really had a grand plan. This just kind of happened.“ Vehicle featured is a 1967 Gyro-X, a two-wheeled, gyroscopicallystabilized prototype vehicle.)

Photo: Bruce Sweetman

garages because I’d want to fill them up with cars,” says Lane, 58. “After maybe five or six years, I had 75 to 80 collector cars. I never really had a grand plan. This just kind of happened.”

At car shows, his peers marveled at his extensive collection.

When he parked his Amphicar in front of his house after driving around Nashville, strangers would knock on the door, asking to take a look. He occasionally gave tours, which was difficult because his automobiles were housed in five different buildings. Eventually, he says, “I came to the realization that

either I needed to stop collecting or I needed to put them together in one entity and do a museum. There are people that want their collection to be private, and they don’t want people to see it unless it’s maybe just a private tour. But I always wanted to share mine with other people, so the museum was the perfect way to do that.”

In 2003, Lane renovated a 1950 Sunbeam Bread Company building located four miles southeast of downtown Nashville and opened Lane Motor Museum with approximately 100 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 41

S P OT L I G H T

cars. He soon sold his vending business to run it fulltime.

Today, the museum houses 500 cars, plus about 15 airplanes, 80 motorcycles, 75 bicycles and a handful of boats and canoes. Most have been restored to near-original specifications, some are in showroom condition, and 80 percent of them run. Lane and his staff take them out for a spin at least twice a year, sometimes to rallies and shows across the eastern U.S.)The vehicles were manufactured in 15 countries— primarily Europe, but also Asia and North and South America—and date back to 1924. About 150 unique autos, from the 1932 Helicron discovered in a French barn to the lightweight 2002 PCD Saxon racer, are on display at any given time.

A tour reveals four primary themes, beginning with the toy-like microcars, three of which greet visitors at the entrance to the museum. Manufactured in Europe after World War II as a

short-distance alternative to bicycles, scooters and walking, the miniature autos offered at least some degree of weather protection without a high price tag. “A lot of the ideas didn’t work out, but some of them were actually quite interesting,” says Lane, whose collection includes 75 to 100 of the vehicles, from Messerschmitts to bubble-topped Peel Tridents. “Most people liked microcars because of the tininess. Kids come in here and they love them because they’re like, ‘Oh that’s small, so I can drive it, right?’”

Propeller-driven cars (and, for good measure, a propeller-driven bicycle) make up another category of novelty vehicles. “It never really took off,” Lane says of the no-transmission cars.

“They were just too loud. They were too windy. And they had no hill-climbing ability whatsoever. They make no sense now, but back in the ‘20s in France, in a place where it’s flat and there are no stop signs or red lights, when

LEFT & BELOW: Jeff Lane’s first car, which he restored as a teenager is an MG TF 1500-

Part of our philosophy is that cars are meant to be driven,” says Lane, “That’s what they were made for. I mean, it’s nice to look at them statically, but to really appreciate a car, you need to drive or ride in it.

—Jeff Lane

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We have more people than I could ever imagine that come from Europe and say, ‘This is a really great museum. Even in Europe, there’s not this collection of cars together.’ Photo: Kerry Woo

Rear of 1932 Helicon with Tennessee license plate.

Photo: Kerry Woo

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S P OTLI GH T

They make no sense now, but back in the ‘20s in France, in a place where it’s flat and there are no stop signs or red lights, when there’s not much traffic you just get up to whatever speed you want to go and cruise along. It’s kind of like an airplane without wings .—Jeff Lane there’s not much traffic you just get up to whatever speed you want to go and cruise along. It’s kind of like an airplane without wings.”

Also on display are 24 high-end Tatras, which Lane says comprises the largest collection in the world except for one in a museum in Koprivnice, Czech Republic, where the cars were made.

The fourth category showcases 100 French-made Citroens demonstrating various innovations over the years.

Lane’s first MG TF, the one he restored as a teen, is also on display in the museum. “I have an emotional attachment to that car, so I would have to pick that one [as my personal favorite],” he says. Other faves include the “goofy and quirky” Peel P50 microcar, the adaptable Amphicar, and the propeller-powered autos.

As an engineer, he admits that it is the technology, not aesthetics, that fascinates him, along with the rarity of one-of-a-kind prototypes like the 1928 Martin Aerodynamic, 1946 Hewson Rocket and 1967 Gyro X. “You can’t get any rarer than that, other than being nonexistent,” he says.

Sometimes, it takes a little persistence—or a lot—to acquire a oneoff automobile. When Lane found out that a Michigan collector possessed two of only 16 three-wheeled, aerodynamic Davis cars made in America between 1946 and 1947, he set out to contact the owner. For several years, Lane’s Lane Motor Museum houses 500 cars, plus about 15 airplanes, 80 motorcycles, 75 bicycles and a handful of boats and canoes.

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1932 Helicon, a one-of-akind, propeller driven car.

Photo: Kerry Woo

Dymaxion Replica- 1933.

Photo: Kerry Woo

Citroën 2CV Bicephale “Cogolin” Replica- 1952.

Photo: Kerry Woo

Photo: Kerry Woo

McQuay-Norris Streamliner- 1934 Photo: Kerry Woo

“I wasn’t a racer, so I was able to look at racing with fresh eyes and a lot of inquisitiveness. I was a complete blank slate with no preconceived ideas. And I like to do things that are new and different, and I got infected and

Eighty percent of the cars, sourced from 15 countries, are in running order, and about 150 are on display at any time. Photo: Kerry Woo

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S P OTLI GH T

1947 Tatra T-87

Chevrolet Corvair 95

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Christmas cards and letters went unanswered. So when he learned of a classic car show coming up in Ypsilanti, he drove his Tatra T-97 there and finally met the elusive Davis collector in person. The two men hit it off and even swapped cars for a bit, with Lane driving a Davis and his new buddy at the wheel of the Tatra.

Two months later, Lane received a letter from the Michigan collector that read, “I’m thinking about selling one of my Davises and this is how I’m going to do it. I’ve picked three people that I might sell it to.” Inside were 10 detailed questions meant to determine the buyer’s sincerity and intent. “In a way, it was a little bit funny,” Lane recalls, adding that, “He ended up accepting our bid, and he actually even brought the car down here.”

Exhibits at Lane Motor Museum change four times a year. The next switch-out takes place in February and will include a gallery comparing older and newer versions of the same models.

Like the cars, no two visitors are alike. Some are vaguely interested in the classics, while others are obsessed with them. Even the fanatics are intrigued by a gamut of features, from shapes, sizes and colors to technical performance and history. “We have more people than I could ever imagine that come from Europe and say, ‘This is a really great museum. Even in Europe, there’s not this collection of cars together.’”

In 2018, the facility began offering self-guided and customized Learning Lane tours, activities and demonstrations for K-12 students.

Adults can enjoy their own hands-on experiences when the museum gives five-mile rides around Nashville on two designated days each summer.

“Part of our philosophy is that cars are meant to be driven,” says Lane, “That’s what they were made for. I mean, it’s nice to look at them statically, but to really appreciate a car, you need to drive or ride in it.”

For more information, see lanemotormuseum.org. n

EXPERT VIEW

CLEAN PRODUCT LAUNCHES LEAD TO SALES GROWTH FOR SUPPLIERS

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very customer wants a supplier that can be trusted to provide what is ordered on time and meets expectations with prompt and courteous service.

Auto industry launches at the vehicle builder or top-tier supplier levels involve hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in marketing, assembly plant equipment and tooling, employee training and untold hours of preparation. With so much at stake, it is essential for suppliers to launch products well.

Yet that doesn’t happen automatically.

Successful performance on the actual day of launch is the fruit of a healthy, robust advanced product quality planning (APQP) business process which will have begun months before.

Herein lies the “secret” sales strategy that parts makers must embrace to become preferred, trusted partners. The three pillars of successful product and process development and clean product launches are well known: process, people and systems. However, principles and methods applied in each of these areas can make all the difference.

Following are important considerations to plan for, risks to minimize and best practices to implement in this trio of elements.

For a supplier to build, not just a good part but a strong relationship with an OEM, means establishing processes with consistent quality and ending with a solid product launch.

TEXT BY: ED POTOCZAK // PHOTOS BY: PEXELS

Process Many manufacturers correctly start out by defining a classic process for APQP captured as flowcharts with responsibility swimlanes, long spreadsheets with many tabs, or even a with book’s worth of procedures and work instructions.

However, the effectiveness of the resulting definition can be blunted when it is stored in a network file FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 47

E X P ER T

V I E W

When team members spend their time watching trends and thinking about their assignment deliverables, not questioning the accuracy of information or each other, clarity results. folder, kept on the computers of a handful of leaders, or posted as printed sheets on bulletin boards.

These storage methods limit access for the stakeholders who need to understand the APQP roadmap. I will address this concern in the systems discussion that follows: People As manufacturing executives hire younger recruits, they usually look for technical skills which can be honed as these new employees become involved in their work responsibilities.

However, special leadership skills must also be considered as the fresh millennials are assigned to program manager roles, since the reality often is having a lot of responsibility with typically limited authority.

First, these new managers need to understand how to lead using horizontal influence, not by hire-fire authority.

Second, if these program leaders naively trust flawed reporting systems that may not share information in an accurate, or in-sync way, they can be misled to believe key tasks are on-time and results acceptable when they really are not. The importance of providing

them accurate, real-time information will be addressed a bit later.

Seasoned program and project manager veterans overcome this potential blind-spot by learning who to personally talk with across the enterprise. They identify the people who usually provide useful, insider information on the current state-ofaffairs and how things have happened.

They also figure out how to filter and factor the “facts” reported in these updates to arrive at a reasonably accurate picture of the truth. This is not a skill typically taught in college.

It is essential to help these budding program managers develop critical communication skills. In fact, an article published by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) states that studies indicate miscommunication costs even smaller companies an average of $420,000 per year.

“Soft” or people skills should be addressed: understanding communication styles, interactive listening, company perspective, and emotional intelligence.

Fortunately, if knowledgeable internal resources are not available, it is possible to engage external consultants with manufacturing experience and training in practical communication styles models like DISC, for example.

These third parties bring the benefits of specialized knowledge and a fresh eyes perspective to avoid tainting the trainees with the “this is the way we have always done things” mindset.

From my years in the industry, the best way to teach these skills is from the perspective of enabling new project managers to get on the same wavelength of others on their team, not to slap a label on them. When someone adapts their own style to fit that of every individual they work with, the other person feels that the budding leader understands their perspective and thinks the same way they do. As a result, team members are comfortable and more open to listening to the message being delivered.

Finally, senior managers must learn

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to be intentional and committed to coaching the less experienced program managers. Being a safe sounding board and advisor, one who knows the company’s informal processes, can be incredibly valuable when a new program manager is uncertain and can help avoid costly mistakes.

Systems For organizations which have carefully defined their APQP process and undertaken the training of the next generation of future leaders, there can still be gaps to address in one key aspect of their program management process: systems. All stakeholders need to have timely, accurate information about customer requirements, assignments and responsibilities, status of supplier and internal deliverables, as well as plans to manage variances and risks.

Many companies who have put in the effort to define their APQP process and train their people end up introducing new risks by using a mishmash of spreadsheets, project schedules, individual documents stored in difficult to access network folders supplemented with email and even paper forms.

While it is tempting to take this approach to minimize investment in purpose-built software, it is important to note that this allows critical files to quickly get out-of-sync due to multiple email discussions and the ease of creating uncontrolled copies of the files through downloads and paper printouts.

Even well-intentioned managers and team members can make mistakes and waste time revalidating information or making bad decisions.

In my decades in the automotive industry, sitting in or leading program reviews, there have been many times when the senior executive in the room expressed great frustration over the amount of time wasted debating the accuracy of the program information being reviewed.

Given what is at stake, it is wise for leaders to thoughtfully evaluate their current systems and invest in modern integrated software to support APQP

“Soft” or people skills should be addressed: understanding communication styles, interactive listening, company perspective, and emotional intelligence. processes by providing team members with accurate, actionable information.

Here are several best practices and capabilities for developing a robust, real-time APQP information system:

reports and dashboards built on real-time processing logic keep key performance indicators (kpi’s) and status fresh and viewable anywhere, any time.

• Establish automated workflows to ensure repeatable sequences of actions with assignment notifications for team members, and reminders of looming due dates. Also, plan to leverage a document repository with revision control, automated reviews, and approvals to keep the whole team on the same page.

• Given a manufacturer’s dependence on the performance of its suppliers, keeping these external team members up to date on relevant requirements related to the equipment, tooling, materials and services needed is a must. Software technology today makes it feasible to establish a secure portal (window) into your planning and operations systems enabling suppliers to respond to changes in requirements, task assignments and automatically generated supplier performance metrics.

Providing this kind of access to your value-chain internal team and external partners can pay big dividends in time savings for staff and minimize the risk of costly gaps and misunderstandings.

In summary, most leaders agree that

• Select software tools with logic to track the completion of key planning documents and records with coordination of related characteristics — process flowcharts, failure mode effects analyses (FMEAs), staffing plans, control plans, capability studies, production part approval process (PPAP) and others. From these key records, build

clarity, trust and respect are critical to team success.

When team members spend their time watching trends and thinking about their assignment deliverables, not questioning the accuracy of information or each other, clarity results. In most situations, when stakeholders gather to discuss a decision based on the same accurate data, they also begin to trust each other. Then, as trust builds in each other’s decision making, mutual respect develops.

The return on investment (ROI) for developing a healthy APQP process, fed with actionable information system and skilled leadership is becoming the unique, trusted supplier partner who consistently meets launch commitments regarding budget, timing, quantity and quality. This manufacturer will enjoy the likelihood of being awarded the next new programs by its customers. n Ed Potoczak (ed.potoczak@softexpert. com) is an engineer, sales leader, program manager, and manufacturing executive who is an experienced member of the US Sales Division of SoftExpert Software (www.softexpert.com )

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 49

Inclusion and T Automotives My motto is really just to be everywhere and shrink the world with the skills you have.

Trevin Dye talks about how his networking skills help the automotive industry.

TEXT BY: MICHELLE LOVE // PHOTOS BY: HENRI HOLLIS 50 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

revin Dye’s resume is extensive, to say the least. His diverse skillset includes being fluent in several languages and classically trained on the piano; his experiences include spending three years in Japan teaching English to high school students.

“My motto is really just to be everywhere and shrink the world with the skills you have,” he says. It’s been this credo that has driven the Atlanta native for most of his life, and is what he credits for his many accomplishments.

Dye is the assistant director of international business development for the Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO), a job that allows him to flex his social skills, he says.

“That’s really been one of my biggest assets, I think, because everyone is in such diverse international circles,” he explains. “I’m able to, I think, [do] more to help people on the business side and in my office accomplish things that they wouldn’t normally be able to accomplish.”

JETRO originally began as a public relations sector of the Japanese government to help promote Japanese owned businesses in the United States after World War II. Today the organization has 74 offices including Atlanta, located in 54 countries around the world, and focuses on promoting possible opportunities in Japan for various businesses. “Our Atlanta office covers Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Florida and this year they just added Tennessee and North Carolina,” says Dye. As of 2017, JETRO was the first international presence at the Southern Automotive Conference and Dye says their involvement in the conference was “well received.”

“We started a JETRO International Business Matching booth to try and help Japanese companies present their products to local companies here and form local relationships because most of them do not know the Southeast very well,” Dye explains. “With the

presence of so many automotive conferences in the Southeast we’re seeing a trend where local companies want local contacts.” Dye says American companies “don’t necessarily need to go to Japan as much, at least in the automotive industry, so we decided to start a business matching program and that’s kind of what that conference represented.”

The decision to form a relationship with the Southern Automotive Conference was not a hard one to make.

As Dye says, it was “difficult to ignore the automotive industry.” One thing that has become apparent to JETRO, and Dye, is the lack of communication as far as human resources and skill-set training goes.

“One of the big things we’ve seen on the automotive side in particular, and we’ve heard this everywhere, is in terms of [human resources] and training, that’s one of the most difficult things to address in the automotive industry right now for Japanese companies and really for international companies in general,” he says. “There are a lot of jobs available but you know, how do we train high level staff and engineers to fill those jobs? So, we thought, well the manufacturing is one side or one piece of it but there’s also an HR piece that the American companies should be aware of from the Japanese companies.

Or the American companies can also talk about their needs. We need training programs and funding to help train students or millennials early on and that’s what JETRO has been focusing on a little more from the automotive standpoint.”

To Dye, it all comes back to communicating with people on what they need. Growing up, he says, he was a “social butterfly popular kid” but never ran with one specific group of people. “I never really had a circle. I was popular because I moved around to all circles. So, it always made me uncomfortable to see someone who was alienated...that whole idea of bringing people into a circle that’s

unfamiliar to them or if they’re awkward or whatever, I think that’s always been part of my mentality and that’s what’s driven me to learn languages and travel as much as possible,” he says.

That mentality has continued to play into his work with JETRO and other various projects. He serves on the board of directors of the Millennials Chamber of Commerce, a relatively young Atlanta-based organization devoted to promoting connections and networking between millennials and various global brands.

“We found over the years that even though we are all members of various chambers of commerce, there’s really no place for millennials in traditional chambers or it’s a lot more difficult to get access to professionals established in the chamber because they might be in school or just starting,” Dye says. “So, what we’ve created is a global platform to kind of empower millennials and to really understand millennials of all cultures and across industries and it kind of helps them connect with each other and connect with other brands around the world.”

The Millennials Chamber of Commerce not only helps millennials make connections and empower themselves but helps businesses understand what millennials want to help their business, and this includes the automotive industry.

While millennials are often cast aside as being not relevant to many industrial discussions, the automotive industry understands that millennials play a big role as customers and as prospective employees, he says. “One of the good things about the automotive industry is because [millennials] are enjoying the product it’s easier to include them in the discussion,” he says.

“It was very interesting that the Southern Automotive Conference in 2017 was so focused on millennials. They were included in the fabric of the conference itself in terms of the displays and I saw it more this year too. [Millennials] were

L-R Reaha Kim, Nick Black, Trevin Dye

One of the good things about the automotive industry is because [millennials] are enjoying the product it’s easier to include them in the discussion. included not in the ‘sit in the audience and let me sell something to you’ sort of way but actually participate so they can see the full breadth of the jobs available to them.”

In addition to his work with JETRO and the Millennials Chamber of Commerce, Dye is currently working on launching a new magazine in Atlanta called Asian Vibe Atlanta, a publication he says will focus on “upscale restaurants and other establishments in the city.” He is also the founder of a multi-cultural modeling agency in Atlanta, another testament to his need to be inclusive of anyone who feels they may be alienated.

He says his past experience “has played into everything I’ve done, including what I’m doing now. It’s all about [how] these are the difficulties that made it impractical for somebody to enter the circle, whether it be business or having access to people. So, since I’m strong in those categories, everything I’ve done has been to somehow bring a marginalized group or person into the circle and to help them understand that they don’t have to be on the outside.” n

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 51

Faces of the Industry

Dream Job As the face and head of CAVS, Clay Walden has a front row seat to cutting edge research benefiting everything from car makers to national defense TEXT BY NICK PATTERSON // PHOTOS COURTESY OF MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY

T

he Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems is a powerhouse in the area of research around moving the automotive industry and other industries forward.

Based at Mississippi State University, CAVS boasts 300 staff members and researchers, including graduate and undergraduate students, working on “solutions to enhance transportation safety, improve vehicle efficiency, increase the productivity of our workforce, and enable a brighter future,” according to Clay Walden, the executive director of the organization.

Walden, who assumed the top leadership role at CAVS in 2017, is an unabashed booster of the organization and what it has to offer; few know it better. Just ask him to tell you about it.

“We have a lot of really cool things we’re working on here.” Walden says, extending an invitation to visit. He adds, with a laugh, “You know, the problem is you start talking and it’s like

where do you stop?”

Consider just a short list of what he and CAVS are working on: • Researchers have been developing a fuel and energy efficient hybrid “car of the futue” that can run 100 miles on a single tank of gas and which utilizes artificial intelligence. On top of that, the project has graduated 30 students who worked on it and went into the workforce ready for the challenges of a changing automotive industry.

• CAVS has worked on projects to analyze “big data’ — from everything from text files to satelites to social media and more — to keep American troops and civilians safe.

• CAVS has worked on 3D laser scanning tech, developed high performance materials, and enhancing the efficiency of Mississippi ports and the infrastructure of cities in the state.

52 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

But besides what he knows about CAVS—which appears to be everything—a conversation with Walden yields something obvious: he’s a proud Mississippi State alum who put his expertise to work at home.

Walden earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering, then went to work for 12 years, before heading back to Mississippi State in the fall of 2000 to work on his Ph.D., “and decided I wanted to teach and sort of, you know, as a career change, to work within the context of the University,” he says. “And during that period, Nissan made an announcement that they were going to come to Mississippi. And so as a result of Mississippi’s courtship of the Nissan plant in Canton, the state legislature provided the foundational funding for CAVS.” When CAVS was set up, beginning in 2001 and 2002, Walden was involved on a project basis, coming on board full time in January 2003. By November of that year, CAVS had opened its

research building. “And it was a really exciting period because nobody had ever quite done this before and, you know, ‘How do we do things that are relevant to industry, but yet stay true to things that a university should and ought to be involved in?’ So, you know, it was sort of a blank sheet of paper,” Walden recalls.

For much of his time at CAVS, Walden worked at CAVS industrial outreach organization. Called CAVS Extension, that part of the enterprise is located in Canton, Mississippi across the interstate from the Nissan plant.

“I used to be responsible for that organization for several years, and then moved up here to this position July of last year. And in addition, we have two other organizations; one is the Institute for Systems Engineering Research, which is located at the Corp of Engineers R&D center called ERDC — it stands for Engineer Research Development Center. And our last organization that I have responsibility for is I2AT, which is instrumentation in analytics service group for industry, but also for internal services within the university. It’s microscopes and kind of deep looking into materials,” he says.

During his eight years at CAVS Extension, Walden worked to provide technical assistance and professional development training to automotive companies from OEMS to Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers located in Mississippi.

The extension service also helped industry by enlisting “the broader, deeper resources of our research organization to help solve problems,” he says.

After all those years on the front lines at CAVS, Walden was asked to step up when the previous executive director, Roger King, retired. Despite all his experience with CAVS, though, Walden admits there was a learning curve.

“In some ways, you know, I kind of knew a lot, but the CAVS Extension activity is kind of all consuming; it’s trying to develop an organization around servicing

and providing practical solutions to automotive manufacturers and other manufacturers around the state,” he says. “I’d always kept up with what was happening at the research side, but just the size of our organization here with about 20 full-time research faculty members…these are people who have PhDs, and almost all of them are in engineering, as well as another 20-25 academic faculty, and then we have a lot of research technicians and engineers to kind of support the infrastructure….

“It was a lot to sort of try to get a sense of, and then try to provide the kind of leadership that’s needed to our research organization. That’s been a major, major emphasis for me since July of last year.”

What’s His Job Like Now? It’s Not Just Automotive.

“With the emphasis around leading our research organization, for me there’s been a lot of need to travel and to visit and listen and try to develop plans around some of our major federal labs, both on the Department of Energy side, as well as on the Department of Defense side,” he says. “Our research funding draws strongly from the Army… and so just developing relationships in that space has taken a lot of effort. We host people, we travel, we try to get out and understand what the needs are. So traveling, hosting folks from other universities, learning about partnerships…those are types of things we get involved in.”

Along with that, he has budgets, securing new research contracts and his work as a member of the board of directors at the Mississippi Automotive Manufacturers Association. MAMA meets monthly, and Walden heads up the scholarship committee, which awards about a dozen scholarships every year to students in community colleges and universities “who want to work in the automotive industry at institutions within Mississippi,” he says.

Walden has a full plate, but he’s

enjoying what he gets to do at CAVS. “What I like the best about what I do now is the ability to work with people, to develop our people so that we can collectively determine ways we add value to our customers,” he says.

“One of the things, from a university standpoint, is seeing the work products of our researchers and faculty from the standpoint of our customer… Certainly we want to do interesting work, but we can’t be satisfied with interesting – we want to move toward useful and then continue to move toward essential.

“That’s sort of true north for the way we think about our partnerships and our customer base, whether it’s the Nissan plant in Canton, or the Toyota plant in Tupelo, or a Tier 1 - Tier 2 supplier,” he says.

He might not use the term “dream job,” but for Walden, his work at CAVS checks a lot of the boxes. He says, “I couldn’t have articulated it, but in terms of.… connecting university engineering research with practical problem solving as it relates to the automotive industry as well as some of our national security needs with the Department of Defense and the Army — I mean, I really, really like that,” Walden believes that as a group of engineers, “we’ve got to be focused, and are focused, around delivering real solutions and not just theoretical activities. So the theory is important, but we’ve got to be able to land that theory and root it in solving a real problem.

“So I just really, really love the opportunity to work with others that do that. The talent that we have at CAVS, it’s really fun to work with the engineers and the researchers because they kind of have that same objective,” he says. He regrets not being able to teach or do a lot of engineering work these days. “But kind of being a support to others as we pull together teams and develop new capabilities, find out areas we need to invest in,” he says, “those are what I really like to do. I like really working with people and developing high-performing teams.” n

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 53

Supplier Profile Our reputation speaks for itself. We don’t even have a sales force. It’s the quality of work and our reputation that has kept us strong. Our goal is not being the biggest, but it is being the best. We play a vital role in what auto companies need on a daily basis.

—Greg Lovvorn

Steeled for Success Alabama fabrication company built on an enterprising entrepreneurial spirit TEXT BY CARA D. CLARK // PHOTOS BY DENNIS KEIM

W

ith a 10th-grade education and dauntless determination, Buddy Lovvorn started a business 40 years ago that has become a family-centric success. The Indiana native moved to Alabama in 1971 with a wealth of experience from having worked at steel mills. He found the right patch of land to put down roots, and in 1977 started clearing ground for a steel fabrication facility in Scottsboro, Alabama.

His son, Greg Lovvorn, now

president of BL Fabricators, recalls working with his father from the time he was 17. He was manually clearing that land with a sling blade back in the day for his dad’s first entrepreneurial endeavor involving the textile industry.

“My dad had the background in steel and fabrication and the passion and desire to start his own business,” Lovvorn says. “He was a natural entrepreneur.”

BL Fabricators is now a prominent supplier of transportation and storage racks for the auto industry, producing

54 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

approximately 7,500 custom racks annually for automotive in hundreds of styles. Yearly sales hit the $4.5 million mark in 2018, and the business has grown from 6,000 square foot building into a 40,000 square foot facility through a series of three expansions over the years. That included a $400,000 expansion in 2018 that added a powder-coat system to provide a more durable finished product.

“It’s not huge compared to some, but we have had a lot of growth here over the past 20 years or so,” Lovvorn says. “Our reputation speaks for itself.

We don’t even have a sales force. It’s the quality of work and our reputation that has kept us strong. Our goal is not being the biggest, but it is being the best. We play a vital role in what auto companies need on a daily basis.”

Buddy Lovvorn first built Scottsboro Structural Steel, a steel fabrication company, on that parcel of land, and all five of his children would occasionally work for him. After selling the company, that entrepreneurial spirit and skill with steel prompted the elder Lovvorn to start anew in 1991 with what was then known as BL Mechanical Contractors.

Greg Lovvorn joined the business full time in 1993, around the time the company ventured into the auto sector, doing business with Mercedes-Benz in Vance, Alabama, in the late 1990s.

“When Dad realized Alabama was becoming heavily involved in automotive, he had a vision of being part of that,” Lovvorn says. “He’s never

been scared to jump into something with both feet.”

A letter to an Alabama senator led to an introduction to Honda, which was building momentum in the state and gave BL Fabricators its first opportunity to build transportation and storage racks in 2001. Buddy Lovvorn’s understanding of steel, welding and the importance of integrity in the process made the transition to automotive racks a natural.

And the company’s focus is building fleets that last five to seven years, saving the auto companies replacement costs through durability.

“We would not be here if MercedesBenz and Honda of Alabama had not trusted in us around 20 years ago, giving us an opportunity to provide them with a crucial product that they and their suppliers use on a daily basis,” Lovvorn says.

It was during a time of uncertainty, what the family expected to become a tragedy, that the younger Lovvorn took over the company.

“After approximately 24 years of fabricating structural steel, I was suddenly thrown into a situation early in 2001 of taking over control of BL Fabricators, Inc., partly due to my dad having recently been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and being told he might have one to two years remaining if he did not take treatments,” Lovvorn says. “Naturally he thought he would die. We didn’t have a lot of revenue coming in at the time, but I had the mindset that I had to do something with this business.”

Twenty years have passed since Buddy Lovvorn’s diagnosis. He beat the disease, and at 85, he often drives his 1953 Pontiac to the company he founded to visit with his son and grandson.

Looking back, Lovvorn remembers the tribulations. At the time of his father’s illness, Lovvorn knew the hands-on aspects of steel fabrication, but he wasn’t sure he was prepared for the operations management aspect. The unexpected transition was a challenge he faced head on, deciding that even if he was dealing with more educated and

Blake Avans consults with a worker at BL Fabricators.

successful people in the industry, he had his own strong foundation.

“I’ve always been a shop guy, not an office guy,” he recalls. “Business was as dead as a doornail, and I turned into a business owner overnight, basically. I started developing relationships with Honda and all the other companies.

They appreciated that I was honest and up front about what I could do. Honda gave us an opportunity to do work, and many nights I worked all night. I never went to bed and never went home.

I would be putting together a rack, because I knew Honda was coming in the next day to sign off on a prototype.”

With the growth from those labors, Lovvorn knew he needed help, and his sister’s son, Blake Avans, seemed the obvious choice. He had the know-how and the drive to handle outside sales and estimates.

Now vice president, Avans has taken over management of day-to-day operations for the past six years with 30 production staffer on the floor and three more workers in office support.

“He was ready to make a move, and he liked knowing his grandfather started all this,” Lovvorn says. “During his first year in 2013, he increased revenue by $1 million by getting involved with a large packaging company with multiple locations.”

That new business stream justified Avan’s argument for expanding and putting in new equipment.

“He’s 20 years younger than I am, and he’s driven and passionate,” Lovvorn says. “We looked at automotive growth in the South and expanding has been very beneficial to us. We’re seeing growth all over the Southeast, and we see an opportunity to grow with automotive. We could probably be larger, but we have a niche for being small. And a lot of automotive companies prefer dealing with smaller businesses because they have one point of contact and a better flow of communication. We have built a lot of great relationships with a lot of strong companies, and that will continue to keep us in business for years to come.”

Even though he’s a leader, Lovvorn’s still not afraid to get his hands dirty. He has mastered all roles in the fabrication shop and is sometimes called from his desk to lend a hand to production.

“I can remember days when an employee may be absent, and I would grab my welding hood, put my owner’s hat down and proceed to the welding station that needed parts built so the other production workers wouldn’t feel the burden of a man out on that day,” Lovvorn says. “Those who have worked for me over the years are my friends, and they all have played a part in the success of our company. I am no better than anyone that has ever worked here, whether it is a skilled welder/fabricator or the guy sweeping the floor. I just have a different job to do.” n

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 55

WORKF ORC E DE VELOPME NT

WELCOME TO UCM UNIVERSITY OF THE CRUCIBLE OF MOTORSPORT

56 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

Through competitions like Formula SAE, college motorsport teams provide practical, industry-relevant experience for engineering students TEXT AND PHOTOS BY: HENRI HOLLIS

In nine months KSU students get their hands dirty learning auto manufacturing the hard way – by building their own Formula SAE race car.

Since this car was built, Southern Polytechnic and KSU have merged.

A

s the semester winds down before the holiday break, the clean, bright halls of Kennesaw State University’s Engineering Technology building are unusually quiet. Dr. Randy Emert, an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Technology department, sits undisturbed in his office, the shelves around him proudly displaying precision-machined objects manufactured from a variety of unique alloys. As an expert in multi-axis machining and additive manufacturing, better known as 3D printing, Emert teaches his students to design and create many of the complicated parts and pieces on his shelves.

Because he’s already given his final exams of the semester, Emert doesn’t expect to have many visitors - but he knows he’ll see a few of his favorite students in the building, even after the campus closes for the winter break.

“Oh, some of the motorsports team will be in here, using the shop and the labs,” he says. He’s talking about KSU Motorsports, a student organization for

which he serves as the faculty advisor.

The student-run team competes in Formula SAE, an international design competition that gives college students the opportunity to build, test and race a prototype autocross race car. Like any other college students involved in elite levels of competition, holiday breaks and typical school hours don’t apply to the most dedicated KSU Motorsports team members.

The premise of Formula SAE is this: a fictional manufacturing company has requested bids for a standardized racing vehicle that can be driven by non-professionals in autocross-style competitions. Each college team must build a working prototype race car from scratch, balancing the performance of the car against many other considerations, from budget to ease of manufacturing to marketing.

It combines nearly every aspect of motorsport, starting with car design and ending with both a driving competition and sales presentation to the fictional buyer. There’s no limit to the number of students who can join the team, but for KSU Motorsports and other Formula

SAE groups around the country, there is typically a core group of 20 to 50 students who truly make the project go.

“I think one of the biggest things for me is project management,” says Jordan Ruiz, president of the 2018-19 KSU Motorsports team. “At competitions, I’ve talked to some other team presidents who have says they learned the hard way: you can’t trust project management to anyone else.” Because teams must build a new car from scratch each year, they only have about nine months from the start of the school year until competition time in May. The first steps include recruiting new members and analyzing the latest Formula SAE rule changes for new vehicle specifications. Then, the design phase begins as members are sorted into different sub-teams who will each tackle a different portion of the project.

New members will typically apprentice under a more experienced teammate who can show them the ropes, whether they’re responsible for aerodynamic design, tuning engine performance or organizing team events.

“I figured out really quick that the

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 57

Students use advanced CAD programs and physics simulators to create and test their concepts. They build with with a variety of tools and processes, including multiaxis CNC machines, welders, water jet cutters, a variety of different types of 3D printers, and old-fashioned hand tools.

Honestly, Formula SAE for us was not about building a car; that was secondary, 0f course, building a good car with a good team while passing all your classes - that was the goal. — Seth Harris, mechanical

engineer at Vista Metals

team president can’t design the car,” says Patrick Curtis, the team’s vice president in 2013. Back then, the team operated out of Southern Polytechnic University, which later merged with Kennesaw State. According to everyone interviewed for this story, the division of labor and team communication are crucial to delivering a working car to the actual end of year competition.

These days, Curtis is a mechanical engineer with Vista Metals, where he works in an aluminum casting facility that produces high-end metal for

aerospace-grade applications. Most of his clients are in the aerospace industry, but they work with automotive companies as well.

As team members design the car, they use advanced CAD programs and physics simulators to create and test their concepts. While most students will first be exposed to these programs and concepts in their mechanical engineering classes, they often find that their FSAE responsibilities push them to master skills faster than the curriculum requires. Some students are able to use regularly assigned class projects to work through design challenges they face with Formula SAE. Likewise, concepts that are confusing in a classroom setting can suddenly make sense when students encounter them in the real world.

Once they begin to physically build the vehicle, students must use a wide variety of manufacturing techniques to make their designs a reality. Emert gives a tour of the Engineering Technology

58 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

facility’s impressive labs and workshops, many of which he laid out himself.

KSU Motorsports team members build their design with a variety of tools and processes, including multiaxis CNC machines, welders, water jet cutters, a variety of different types of 3D printers, and old-fashioned hand tools.

“Formula SAE is actually where I got my first experience with additive manufacturing,” says Seth Harris, another mechanical engineer at Vista Metals. He was the motorsports team president alongside Curtis, and the two college friends have remained close.

Curtis recommended Harris for his current position at Vista Metals.

Prior to his work with aluminum casting, Harris spent several years with citim AM, a company making 3D-printed metal prototypes. There, he was a project engineer and the shop supervisor.

“I worked with direct metal laser sintering additive manufacturing, and I got to travel the world doing that,”

bit of credit to the motorsports team for helping his career, as well.

“I can say that the hands-on experience I got through Formula SAE, as well as my personal hobbies, are a couple of the main reasons why I got my job - and I’ve been here for about three and a half years,” says Curtis. “We recently had an opening, and I recommended Seth. We were on the team at the same time - he was president, I was vice president. So I told them, ‘he’s just as good as me - interview Seth.’ Now, he’s working here.”

Other friends from the competition went on to work for Honda, Panoz and Textron. Ruiz, the current team president, says that his ideal job after graduation would be in engineering for a motorsports team. Emert proudly lists the prestigious companies that many

of his students have gone on to work for. And while every team member may not end up working in the automotive industry, everyone involved appreciates the skills and experience gained from the motorsports team. That includes the practical knowledge and lessons learned from the competition, but they never fail to mention the “softer” skills that the experience instills.

“Honestly, Formula SAE for us was not about building a car; that was secondary,” says Harris. “Of course, building a good car with a good team while passing all your classes - that was the goal. But it isn’t just about the car.

I get to work with my best friend. He’s from the team. And all the guys we hang out with on the weekend, they’re from the team. So, you can build a car - but it was never just about the car.” n

says Harris, whose former company is headquartered in Germany. “That was directly related to the team and the exposure to that technology.”

How was 3D printing used for the car that was built by Harris’ team?

“We were fortunate to be sponsored by an industrial 3D printing company,” says Harris, “So we actually designed Over the years, KSU Formula SAE students have won awards for their labors, not to mention a good foot and 3D-printed an intake manifold forward in their careers. that had the injector bungs molded in, the tail light housing, all the wire paths for the tail lights, and the throttle body itself were all 3D printed into one monolithic piece.”

Their team’s design started a legacy that lasted several years, though the team today makes a similar part built from a carbon composite layup with some 3D printed pieces. The process gave Harris practical experience that helped him secure his job in additive manufacturing after graduation, but it was the bonds he built with teammates that helped him find his current job. Curtis gives a good FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 59

REGIONAL REPORTS The Georgia Automotive Manufacturers Association, Inc. (GAMA) is a non-profit trade association which passionately promotes the interests of Georgia’s automotive and ground transportation industry. GAMA is a community of businesses with common interests and goals which provides a highly interactive forum to help members achieve the following: • continual improvement in their businesses • higher levels of innovation, quality, and profitability

• professional success through unique educational opportunities • successful networking among customers and peers

GAMA IS OFF TO A VERY SUCCESSFUL START FOR 2019: MARCH 12, 2019 – Quarterly Meeting - “Critical Issues Regarding OSHA” – being held at the Hampton Inn in West Point, GA/Lanett, AL (near the Kia assembly plant in West Point, Georgia). Our prior meetings on this topic have been among our most popular meetings. OSHA is still top-of-mind for OEMs and suppliers in the Southeast, especially in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.

APRIL, 2019 – As a result of strong interest and input from members and other constituencies, GAMA has, for the last year or so, been planning a Technology Summit to feature some cutting-edge topics. We hope to have more details soon.

MAY 7, 2019 – Annual Golf Tournament supporting the Southern Automotive Women’s Forum (SAWF) at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia (near Columbus, Georgia) – photo attached. Yes, spring will hopefully be in the air in May in the beautiful

Southeast. The last few tournaments featured bright blue skies and mid-70 temperatures, some fantastic rounds of golf on a beautiful course, and great networking. We even heard rumors that some fantastic deals were “teed up” on the golf course.

AUGUST, 2019 – Annual Plant Tour. The location and date will be announced soon.

NOVEMBER 13, 2019 – Annual Economic Update/Technology Meeting featuring Bill Strauss, Senior Economist and Economic Advisor, from the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. This will be the eighth time Mr. Strauss has addressed GAMA members and guests - photo attached of Bill Strauss, as well as the Federal Reserve Chicago Logo. This has also been one of GAMA’s most popular annual meeting topics.

Mr. Strauss’ information is always extremely relevant and timely, and includes his views on the economy in general, manufacturing in general, and, of course, the automotive industry in particular. The meeting is timed to fit well with most companies’ budget planning processes.

GAMA is committed to delivering valuedriven events year-round.

For further information, please contact Rick Walker, GAMA President, at rwalker@GAMA-Georgia.org or 770-314-9040 60 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 61

REGIONAL REPORTS

62 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

REGIONAL REPORTS

Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association

AAMA’S MISSION is to promote growth and continuous improvement of automotive manufacturing in Alabama.

ALAUTOINDUSTRY.ORG

2019 AAMA EVENT CALENDAR MARCH 5 Southern Automotive Quality Summit Hyatt Regency Birmingham Birmingham, Alabama

MARCH 28 Maintenance Symposium Bryant Conference Center Tuscaloosa, Alabama

APRIL 5 Meet & Greet at Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama

MAY 8 – 9 Automotive Advanced Technology Summit Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Birmingham, Alabama

JUNE (Date TBD) East Alabama Workforce Workshop Location TBD

JULY 11 Supplier Diversity Conference

BENEFITS OF AAMA MEMBERSHIP INCLUDE: • Business networking opportunities • Leadership opportunities • Sharing of manufacturing best practices • Information on issues impacting the industry • Information on advances in technology and continuous improvement • Access to internet database of Alabama automotive-related companies • Listing on AAMA website • Members Directory • Promotional opportunities for company news • Factory floor assessments (participating companies are eligible for AAMA Supplier of the Year Award) • Member discounts for training • Membership to AIAG • Membership to BCA • Invitation to annual Appreciation Dinner

Von Braun Center Huntsville, Alabama

NOVEMBER (Date TBD) Appreciation Dinner Hyatt Regency Birmingham Birmingham, Alabama

Full Event Details @ www.alautoindustry.org

Join AAMA today! Start now taking part in Alabama’s dynamic automotive manufacturing association. If you are interested in learning more about AAMA and how you can help advance Alabama’s automotive industry, please visit ALAutoIndustry.org.

Contact: Lynsey Delane | 256.824.6407 Ron Davis | 205.657.5101 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 63

REGIONAL REPORTS TAMA helps Tennessee automotive companies, especially suppliers, react to the challenges of the global automotive marketplace.

TAMA is a membership organization with a mission to strengthen and expand Tennessee’s automotive industry. TAMA’s diverse membership includes OEMs, Tier 1, 2, and 3 suppliers, government agencies, and professional service organizations that have expertise in the automotive industry. Members enjoy access to some of Tennessee’s top automotive executives, strong support from the state’s economic development team, and discounted fees to membership meetings and other TAMA events.

TA M A’ S ANN U A L S P ON S OR S

TAMA 2018 BOARD OF DIRECTORS President, Rick Youngblood, Nissan North America Vice President, Daniel Davidson, Calsonic Kansei North America, Inc. Treasurer, Jim Leyhew, Kasai North America, Inc. Dex Battista, Magna International Luca Bovalino, Magneti Marelli Ed Carter, C&S Plastics

Andre Gist, Manufacturers Industrial Group Victoria Hirschberg, TN Dept. of Economic & Community Development Barry Owens, Bridgestone Americas, Inc. Marius Sipos, YAPP USA Automotive Systems, Inc. Kim Williams, Tenneco

To join TAMA, visit www.tennauto.org.

For questions about membership, contact Ashley Frye 615-525-4533 email: ashley@tennauto.org 64 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 65

BUILT BY DESIGN

Concrete Solutions

Kentucky-based Bristol Group goes extra mile to consider clients’ requirements, needs TEXT BY: DAVID GREEN // PHOTO COURTESY OF: BRISTOL GROUP

K

entucky, known for thoroughbred horse racing, bourbon and college basketball, has another seriously strong asset — the auto industry. Leading sellers Camry and F-Series Super Duty trucks and the iconic Corvette are built in the Bluegrass State.

Supporting these major assembly plants, there is an extensive network of parts suppliers which are in turn supported by another Kentucky company —Bristol Group, of Lexington.

Founder and CEO Todd Ball grew up on the family farm in Somerset, inspired by a grandfather who worked in the construction industry. Ball began his own construction career in 1986 working for Gray Construction, builder of the Toyota assembly plant in Georgetown.

He became a project manager and

eventually lead a business unit with complete responsibility for the design, construction, equipment installation and start-up of manufacturing facilities.

In 1996, he struck out on his own to form Bristol Group. The company offers a full spectrum of engineering, design and construction services for all sorts of commercial, industrial, business and civil clients, but specializes in automotive.

“For us, construction isn’t a commodity but the coming together of a team that can find the best outcomes for our customers. It’s a process of identifying risks, finding solutions and delivering value,” Ball says. “Our philosophy is to provide the highest quality service to our clientele by making their priorities our priorities.”

John-Mark Hack, Bristol’s vice president for business development, says the company emphasizes planning

66 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

to extreme detail.

“Our number one priority in every project is reducing risk to the furthest possible extent,” Hack says. “Every time that you’re coming across something that you didn’t anticipate, which is common, that represents a risk. It represents use of time and money.

“When you extrapolate that out from small to large, with highly sophisticated robotic equipment and other characteristics that are typical of modern auto supply manufacturers, the potential for risk is very, very high. Our job as designers and builders is to reduce risk to the [greatest] possible extent we can.”

Surprising clients with change orders, he notes, is “not in our DNA.” Every job is a unique challenge, Hack says, citing some fundamental qualities that separate Bristol from larger construction companies.

“As a design-build firm, we have a team of architects and engineers in-house,” he says. “We can go from concept to turn-key without having to involve subcontractors for each step

For us, construction isn’t a commodity but the coming together of a team that can find the best outcomes for our customers.— Todd Ball, Bristol

Group Founder and President

of the process.” Bristol’s lean structure (about 150 employees) helps enable quicker problem resolution when problems occur.

“While we are substantial enough to take on Tier 1, 2 or 3 suppliers, we are small enough to offer a comfort level to our clients, to assure them that they’re not going to get lost in the shuffle of a large national contractor,” Hack says.

“We’re small enough to be nimble, but versatile enough to perform.”

Top leadership is involved in every project, he adds, citing a project for Hitachi Automotive Systems as an example. Hitachi has multiple sites in Kentucky and in other states, and called on Bristol for a construction project at its Monroe, Georgia, facility.

“They needed a 300,000-square-foot facility, in a relatively short timeline,” he says. “We were able to design that facility and put 300,000 square feet under roof in about four and a half months from December to March 2015.”

The project was not complicated, Hack says. “But because we listened

closely and implemented their desires in the design process, we were able to erect a building and they were able to get to work more quickly.”

Hack estimates that 70 to 80 percent of Bristol’s business is from repeat customers. In a Bristol Group YouTube video, a Hitachi spokesperson says his company was “impressed that the owner was heavily involved, and their project team was brought into the initial conversations. They came and listened, and then returned with a complete proposal that let us know they were paying attention. Working with Bristol was easy and that’s why we enjoy partnering with them.”

Bristol’s more extensive and elaborate projects include designing, engineering, and constructing a 1,600-ton stamping press for Toyotetsu America Inc., in Somerset. That 2002 project took only three months.

Hack says Bristol’s depth of experience helps engineers and designers anticipate problems and helps the construction crew creatively deal with issues that do crop up.

“We offer our expertise but don’t force it on them,” Hack says. “What they think they want may not be the least risky way.... We want that communication to form the basis for a healthy relationship. We don’t want to do just one job for a customer.”

Michael Rodenberg, CEO of Campbellsville, Kentucky-based Murakami USA, praised the work Bristol did for his supplier.

“We told them we needed a 50,000-square-foot addition for warehousing. We were looking to tying that to the [existing] building,” Rodenberg says. “They told us, ‘That’s one way to do it.’”

Bristol representatives also explained an alternative way, that Rodenberg says saved money and became a better solution to Murakami’s needs.

“I’ve worked with Todd and his whole team,” Rodenberg says. “The thing that I like about them is that they’re up front, they walk you through potential

issues, and they’re right there alongside you from start to finish.”

Hack notes that automotive has been especially important to Bristol Group over the years.

“Part of the reason I think we’ve done well dealing with manufacturers within the auto industry is that we are manufacturers ourselves,” Hack says.

At sites in Lexington and in southern Indiana, Bristol Group produces prefabricated concrete panels, which the company uses extensively in its projects.

One big advantage of precast components is that they can be produced in a climate-controlled environment, without the limitations that temperature changes and rainfall can impose on the process of pouring and curing concrete on-site.

Bristol uses the full spectrum of construction processes, Hack says, but noted, “Pre-cast concrete is becoming widely adopted for a number of reasons.”

For one, “there is almost zero waste in the manufacturing process because the panels are all made for a specific purpose,” Hack says. In addition, jobsite labor requirements are reduced, and the precast panels are superior in structure and function, leading to longer life, lower heating and cooling bills and ultimately more comfort for workers, who are more productive as a result.

Ball earned degrees from the University of Kentucky in mechanical and civil engineering. The dual degrees give him a breadth of expertise which is useful, Hack says, considering the types of high-tech processes that many automotive manufacturers are using.

Ball’s expertise is offered to clients on a hands-on basis. “Our key people are seasoned professionals that share the common desire to design and construct buildings; not manage younger, inexperienced people doing it,” the company website notes.

“The solutions we offer within the automotive industry,” Ball says, “come from a combination of adopting customer vision and applying our experience to deliver the highest value.” n

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 67

KUDOS

Brighter Day Sets Shining Example

Venturi employee funded initiative invests resources and volunteer hours in community TEXT BY: CARA D. CLARK // PHOTO COURTESY OF: VENTURI

T

he importance of community service can’t be overstated, but Venturi, based in Huntsville, Alabama, has raised the bar with the Venturi Brighter Day Employee Fund, a purely-employee funded and manned initiative. Since its inception, the fund has given back more than $775 million and countless volunteer hours to community organizations and efforts.

The non-profit Brighter Day

began in 2007, nurtured in a corporate culture of giving established by Venturi founder Mike Alvarez, who prefers to keep a low profile while pointing out the good works of his employees. The workforce at the aerospace company follows the lead set by Alvarez, who has entered the automotive sector with initiatives to prevent children dying unnecessarily from hyperthermia after being left in autos by distracted parents and caregivers. Stories of these tragedies prompted Alvarez to offer a

68 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

monetary reward to the Venturi X Prize winner who could design a feasible device to prevent those deaths.

Prize winner Ben Payment named his compact invention Payton’s Charm in memory of a child who died in Florida in 2010, and now Venturi is working to bring the product to market.

It’s that sort of caring attitude that has resulted in Venturi being named multiple times as a winner of the Best Places to Work competition sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County.

With Brighter Day donations and corporate gifts from Venturi, the combined total invested back in the community to help those in need is

As the company has grown, our giving ability has grown. The volunteer hours employees put in are because they are giving people who care and want to be involved. Some people are on boards of nonprofits, and some are involved in other volunteer activities. It’s a mix, but this is a very giving company. It warms my heart.

—Derek Johns

approximately $1.6 million.

Derek Johns, the companiy’s human resources director, works closely with Sinuhe Agrinzoni and other Brighter Day leaders to keep paying forward good works. Employees opt to give financially, which allows fund administrators to allocate resources throughout the community.

“Most employees contribute through payroll deduction, and each quarter, we review applications for grants,” Johns says. “To date, we have awarded $775,000 in grants to 60 nonprofits throughout the area. Some are multiple recipients.”

The funds have been distributed in Madison, Marshall, Morgan, and Limestone Counties, but Johns says the monetary donations can’t match the hands-on work offered by Venturi’s skilled employees.

“Not everything is about writing a check,” he says. “For many years, we have had more than 90 percent participation in Brighter Day (there were 25 to 30 employees in 2007 when the fund began), and the company has more than doubled in size in the last two years.”

Venturi now has approximately 180 employees, the majority of whom are located in Huntsville. Johns says he’s often asked about the impressive success the company has enjoyed with its charitable program and attributes it to the early endorsement of Alvarez and other senior managers, who tipped their hats to the way employees

stepped up to help fellow citizens.

“Recipients of grants cover the gamut from health care to AMBUCS, an organization that started out adapting bikes for use by children with disabilities,” Johns says. “They now are making those bikes for adults, and many disabled veterans use those.”

Employees help assemble the bicycles, as well as building wheelchair ramps to makes homes and community buildings more accessible.

“Once each quarter, employees go out, not because it’s fun but because we see a need and want to be sure it is taken care of,” Johns says. He notes that “The mission is to keep people in their homes as long as they can. Aging in place is an important aspect of society today, and we want to contribute to making that possible.”

The organization also participates in programs to combat hunger, which are run by a care center in North Alabama.

Whether employees are distributing supplies or building wheelchair ramps, they are doing it on their own time as a true volunteer effort.

“We go out once a quarter and pack bags for children who may not have enough food to get through the weekend,” Johns says. “The CARE Center, an organization started by 12 churches in Madison, Alabama, is one of many the organizations we have supported. We have awarded them grants and been involved in their Bags of Blessings ministry.”

Bags of Blessings, a weekend food security program, has partnered with area schools to provide meal packs to school children on free breakfast and lunch. The packs are distributed discreetly into kids’ backpacks on Fridays and help supplement nutrition through the weekend when they might not have food at home.

On its website, the Care Center expressly thanks Venturi as a dedicated community partner: “We are especially grateful to our Community Partners, like Venturi and D & F Equipment for their continued support of volunteers and financial support to this vital

ministry. We appreciate you all so much for making a life-long difference and a lasting commitment to our youth,” the Care Center administrators wrote on the website.

The bylaws for Brighter Day require assistance recipient agencies to meet two criteria. The must have formed official 501c3 status, and they must be a local organization or show that the money is being used locally.

“To date, we have not awarded grants outside the Tennessee Valley, but we hope to be able to do that one day,” Johns says. “As the company has grown, our giving ability has grown.

The volunteer hours employees put in are because they are giving people who care and want to be involved. Some people are on boards of nonprofits, and some are involved in other volunteer activities. It’s a mix, but this is a very giving company. It warms my heart.”

Aside from Brighter Days contributions to the community, Venturi Corporate also gives, doubling down on the support, from helping children and families in need, offering assistance to the mentally disabled, and supporting schools and local charities with time, skills and money to improve quality of life.

“A lot of the dedication to giving back in this company is because of Mike Alvarez,” Johns says. “Mike is a very humble guy. He doesn’t need the limelight and doesn’t want it, but people see others giving with time, talent, and money, and it’s a healthy contagion.” n

A lot of the dedication to giving back in this company is because of Mike Alvarez. Mike is a very humble guy. He doesn’t need the limelight and doesn’t want it, but people see others giving with time, talent, and money, and it’s a healthy contagion.

—Derek Johns

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 69

I N D U S T R Y I N D I C AT O R S

hybrid cars in the south Do you know how many purely hybrid vehicles there are in your state? According to AutoAlliance.org, your mileage may vary – so to speak. These numbers don’t include plug-in hybrids.

33,597

12,98

91

9 05 31,

219,027

42,749

2 92,

1

54,374

Southeast Auto Stocks Company/Security

Headquarters

Southeast U.S. Operations

Ticker

Exchange

Closing Price 12/31/2018

Closing Price Stock Price 12/29/2017 Growth

BMW

Munchen, Germany

SC

BMWYY

OTC

26.97

34.7

i -22.21

Ford Motor Co.

Dearborn, Michigan

KY

F

NYSE

7.65

12.49

i -38.75

General Motors Co.

Detroit, Michigan, United States

KY, TN, TX

GM

NYSE

33.45

40.99

i -18.39

Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

Minato, Tokyo, Japan

AL, SC

HMC

NYSE

26.45

34.08

i -22.39

Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.

Seoul, South Korea

AL

HYMLF

OTC

89

120

-25.83

Kia Motors Corp.

Seoul, South Korea

GA

KIMTF

OTC

30.3

30.3

0.00

Mazda Motor Corp.

Hiroshima, Japan

AL

MZDAF

OTC

9.72

13.586

i -28.46

Mercedes-Benz (Daimler AG)

Stuttgart, Germany

AL, GA, SC

DDAIF

OTC

52.77

84.565

i -37.60

Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Minato, Tokyo, Japan

KY

MMTOF

OTC

5.31

7.09

i -25.11

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.

Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan

MS, TN

NSANF

OTC

8.18

9.74

i -16.02

Porsche Automobile Pfd.

Stuttgart, Germany

GA

POAHF

OTC

59.17

84.3

i -29.81

Toyota Motor Corp. Ltd. Ord.

Toyota, Aichi, Japan

AL, KY, MS, TX

TM

NYSE

116.08

127.17

i -8.72

Volkswagen Ag Ord.

Wolfsburg, Germany

TN

VLKAF

OTC

157

201.51

i -22.09

Volvo AB ADR

Gothenburg, Sweden

SC

VLVLY

OTC

13.03

18.49

i -29.53

70 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

When it’s time to celebrate, educate, or congregate we’re here to help.

Let us do what we do best, and that’s help you shine.

Southern Automotive Conference 2017, 2018 & 2019 Top 40 Under 40 Mobile | Top Tigers Inspiration Home | UAB Top 25 Best Companies to Work For in Alabama and more! contact: swardy@pmtpublishing.com

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 71

BY T H E N U M B E R S

X7

10,000+ Number of new engineers who graduate each year within a 250-mile radius of Atlanta. autonews.com

Model being built by BMW at its plant in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. southernautocorridor.com

$158.1

$4.8

Value of bonds authorized for Nissan to make improvements to its plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. southernautocorridor.com

Contribution of the auto industry to the gross domestic product within the state of Texas, as of 2014. statesman.com

MILLION BILLION

5,500 Number of applications received by Braidy Industries 600 full-time jobs available at the auto supplier’s new aluminum rolling mill in Ashland, Kentucky. autonews.com

$13

PER HOUR Starting wage paid to temporary workers at Nissan’s auto assembly plant in Canton, Mississippi, compared to up to $25 per hour for permanent workers. marketplace.org

72 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

2,700 43,000 Approximate number of full-time employees at Hyundai’s Montgomery, Alabama complex. forbes.com

$20,000+ Average salary for employees at the Birmingham, Alabama plant opened last year by Autocar, manufacturer of concrete trucks, waste management trucks, and garbage trucks. al.com

3 Number of vehicles which will be produced at General Motors’ plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee following the addition of a Cadillac crossover. tennesseean.com

CAREER NOTES Exide Technologies of Milton, Georgia, has announced several leadership changes.

STEFAN STÜBING has been promoted to the post of executive vice president and president, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Stübing will report to Tim Vargo, president and CEO, and will lead Exide Technologies from the company’s European headquarters in Gennevilliers, France.

Stübing, who came to the role after serving as interim in the position has more than 35 years of experience with Exide and was formerly the vice president of Finance for Exide Europe.

Exide also named BRIAN WOODWORTH as senior vice president and chief information officer. Also reporting to Vargo, Woodworth leads the company’s information technology team from the Exide’s global headquarters in Milton.

Woodworth has more than 20 years of experience leading technology teams in the automotive retail and distribution industries. During his career he has held similar roles at Phillips Pet Food & Supplies, Inc., Fred’s Inc., TruckPro, CSK Auto and Murray’s Discount Auto Stores.

Toyota Motor North America, based in Plano, Texas, has appointed a new chief diversity officer.

SANDRA PHILLIPS ROGERS, group vice president, general counsel and chief legal officer for TMNA, has taken on the additional role of chief diversity officer.

Rogers succeeds Chris Reynolds, as the chief administrative officer with responsibility for Manufacturing and Corporate Resources.

As part of its One Toyota philosophy to improve efficiencies,

speed of decision-making and collaboration, TMNA and Toyota Financial Services also announced other executive changes which went into effect January 1, 2019. ALEX HAGEY, formerly vice president and general manager in TMNA’s Los Angeles Region, has become group vice president, Sales, Product and Marketing for TFS. PETE CAREY, who formerly held the role Hagey just took on, has become group vice president, Service Operations and Toyota Financial Savings Bank at TFS. KAREN IDENO, formerly vice president, Product, Marketing, CSR and Communications at TFS has become group vice president Product, Marketing, Brand and Remarketing at TFS. RANDY STEPHENS, former group vice president and Chief Engineer for TMNA Research and Development has become group vice president Product Development Office and Chief Engineer in TMNA’s York, Michigan operation.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas, Inc. of San Antonio, Texas, has announced that Senior Vice President KEVIN VOELKEL has been promoted to president, TMMTX effective January 1, 2019. Voelkel joined TMMTX in 2005,and played an integral role in establishing the San Antonio manufacturing facility which includes Toyota’s first on-site supplier campus.

Volkswagen Group of America has named SCOTT KEOGH, head of Audi of America, the president and CEO

of Volkswagen Group of America and head of the Volkswagen brand for the North American region.

Keogh, 49, joined Audi in 2006, as chief marketing officer, where he led the revival of the Audi brand.

The company credits him with using innovative marketing tactics that lead to record awareness and brand strength. In 2012, he was appointed president, and under his leadership, the company saw higher customer satisfaction levels and double sales from 2010 to 2015.

Keogh will succeed HINRICH J. WOEBCKEN, who will remain with the company as an adviser. Keogh’s successor is MARK DEL ROSSO, president and CEO of Bentley Motors, Inc., Americas, and former chief operating officer of Audi of America.

Nissan Latin America Chairman JOSE VALLS has been appointed vice chairman, Nissan North America, in charge of U.S. sales and marketing, effective January 2, 2019. Valls will continue to lead the Latin America region until his replacement is announced. For the North America role, Valls will report to Nissan North America Chairman Denis Le Vot. Valls joined Nissan in April 2011 as regional vice president, Commercial Division, Nissan Mexicana, and he was promoted to president and managing director, Nissan Mexicana in April 2012. Prior to that he worked for other major automotive manufacturers in sales operations, fleet and commercial, distribution, dealer development, product development and portfolio management. Valls became Nissan Latin America chairman in January 2014.

Valls holds a bachelor’s degree in public accounting from Pontificia Universidad Catolica Santa Maria in Argentina and a master’s degree in management from the University of California, Berkeley. n

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 73

INDUSTRY NEWS

Make America Smoggy again?

For Automakers Seeking Mileage Rollback, Trump Plan Too Much of a Good Thing

I

TEXT BY: BY STUART SILVERSTEIN, FAIRWARNING REPORTS

t’s no shocker that environmental and consumer advocates are furious about the Trump administration proposal to throttle sweeping Obamaera rules which are intended to dramatically reduce auto tailpipe emissions and boost fuel economy.

But pushback also is coming from less likely sources: auto manufacturers and their suppliers, and even a major oil company.

That opposition has emerged even though auto industry leaders, soon after Donald Trump became president, urged his administration to relax the historic Obama fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas agreement announced seven years ago. When the rollback proposal from the Trump administration arrived in August, it called for freezing fuelefficiency requirements after 2020 — instead of living up to the agreement to make them more stringent every year through 2025.

For many automakers and suppliers – including those that have been investing heavily in fuel economy

and emissions improvements – the bottom line is that they got offered more regulatory relief than they actually wanted. They also recoiled at the administration’s contention that more fuel-efficient vehicles would be less safe, and rejected its call to revoke California’s special authority to write its own tough emissions rules.

Jack Gillis, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, likened the auto industry’s bewilderment to that of a dog that chases a bus and somehow manages to catch up to it. “Now what is he going to do?” Gillis says.

Automakers have come to “the belated realization … that if Detroit rests and slows down its efforts to improve fuel efficiency, they will not only be globally noncompetitive but they may find themselves in the same position as they did during the last financial and gas price crisis, where they were sitting on lots and lots and lots of unsold vehicles,” Gillis says.

While the oil industry largely has steered clear of the fray, Shell Oil submitted a letter during the formal

74 | Southern Automotive Alliance FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

60-day comment period, saying that it doesn’t support the rollback either.

The oil giant called on the government to combat global warming by curbing carbon dioxide emissions. Shell noted that an analysis from two agencies that issued the proposal – the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – acknowledged that the rollback would do the opposite.

Still, the criticism from environmentalists and consumer groups was especially sharp. The Consumer Federation of America, leading a coalition of 33 advocacy groups, estimated that the public over five years would lose $150 billion in savings at the gas pump and in economic growth if the proposed Trump rollbacks take effect.

Daniel Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, a Washington-based environmental advocacy group, says the existing Obama rules marked “the biggest single step any nation has ever taken to combat global warming …. and now it’s very much in doubt.”

There is no deadline for the Trump administration to finalize its plan, but it is expected to arrive by around the end of March, which means it could take effect in time for the 2020 model year. The two federal agencies working on the proposal, the EPA and NHTSA, says they were reviewing all comments before writing a final rule but declined to comment further.

“That doesn’t mean that the administration will respond thoughtfully,” says Gillis of the Consumer Federation, “but I think they are going to have to do some serious analysis of not only what the consumer [groups] are telling the government, and the environmental organizations, but also the car companies.” n For a more detailed version of this story visit https://www.fairwarning.org/2018/11/

Index AAMA.........................................................3, 5, 63

Gray Construction....................................................... 66

Mississippi Manufacturers Association....... 38

ABL-Technic..................................................... 39

Greg Lovvorn...........................................................54,55

Mississippi State Board of Education........... 38

AIAG.................................................................... 5

GulfQuest......................................................... 77

Mississippi State University..........14, 52,53, 79

Air Charter......................................................... 9

Hinrich J. Woebcken.................................................... 73

Murakami........................................................ 67

Alex Hagey..................................................................... 73

Hirotec.............................................................. 12

NAFTA........................................... 18,28,29,30,31

Anthony Foxx................................................................ 34

Hitachi Automotive........................................ 67

NARMCO............................................................. 7

Ardalan Vahidi.............................................................. 58

Hodges................................................................ 2

New Flyer......................................................... 13

Assembly Tool................................................. 35

Honda...............................................17, 18,29, 55

NHTSA............................................................... 74

Atlanta............................................................. 72

Hyundai......................13, 14,15, 16, 18, 19,26,27

Nissan.........................................14, 15,36, 52, 53

Auburn University.......................................... 14

Impala.............................................................. 24

Onin.................................................................... 4

Austin-Healey.................................................. 27

INEOS................................................................ 19

Patrick Curtis............................................................57,58

Autocar............................................................. 72

Itawamba Community College...................... 38

Pete Carey..................................................................... 73

BCA..................................................................... 3

ITIC.......................................................... 32,33,34

Randy Emert......................................................57,58,59

Ben Payment................................................................ 68

Jaguar..........................................................17, 27

Randy Stephens........................................................... 73

BL Fabricators............................................ 54,55

Jack Gillis........................................................................ 74

Reich................................................................... 9

BMW.................................. 16, 17,26,27,27,32,33

Jason Hoff..................................................... 20,21,22,23

Ron Wyden...............................................................29,30

Braidy Industries........................................ 12,72

Jeep................................................................... 27

SAMA....................................................................

Brian Woodworth........................................................ 72

Jeff Lane....................................... 40,41,42,43,44,45,46

Sandra Phillips Rogers................................................ 73

Bristol Group.............................................. 66,67

Jesus Seade................................................................... 29

SCAC.................................................................. 61

Buddy Lovvorn........................................................54,55

JETRO........................................................... 50,51

Sean Suggs...............................................................36,38

Buick............................................................ 25,27

JMF............................................................... 13,37

Seth Harris...............................................................58,59

Cadillac........................................................ 19,27

Jody Bryson........................................................32,33,34

Shelton State Community College................ 23

Canada......................................... 18,24,26,28,29

John-Mark Hack.......................................................66,67

SK Innovation............................................. 15,27

Carroll Campbell.......................................................... 32

Jordan Ruiz...............................................................57,59

South Carolina Technology & Innovation

CAVS........................................................14, 52,53

Jose Valls........................................................................ 73

Center............................................................... 33

Center For Automotive Research... 28,29,30,31

Justin Trudeau.............................................................. 29

Southern Automotive Conference................ 50

China................................................. 10,17,30,31

KAIA.................................................................. 65

Southern Polytechnic University.................. 58

Chevrolet...............................................15, 24,25

Kennesaw State University............. 56,57,58,59

Stefan Stübing.............................................................. 73

Clay Walden.......................................................14,52,53

Kevin Voelkel................................................................. 73

Scott Keogh................................................................... 73

Clemson........................................................... 33

Kia........................................................................15, 26,27

Sundaram-Clayton.......................................... 13

Consumer Federation of America................. 74

Kristin Dziczek...................................................28,29,30

TAMA................................................................ 64

Cooper Tire and Rubber................................. 18

Lane Motor Museum........ 40,41,42,43,44,45,46

Tesla..........................................13, 14, 16, 17, 18

Crestmark........................................................ 11

Leadec.............................................................. 37

The Jetsons.................................................................... 34

Daimler.......................................13, 14,16, 17, 21

MAMA............................................................... 62

Todd Ball...................................................................66,67

Daniel Becker................................................................ 74

Marathon Motors....................................... 76,78

Toyotetsu America.......................................... 67

Dave Ketchen............................................... 24,25,26,27

Mark Del Rosso............................................................ 73

Toyota.............................16, 17, 18, 19,29, 36,38

Donald Trump..........................16, 26, 28,29,30,31,74

Mary Barra..................................................................... 25

Trevin Dye................................................... 50,51

Doug Jones.................................................................... 13

Matt Blunt...................................................................... 30

UA College of Continuing Studies.............. 7,31

Enrique Peña Nieto..................................................... 29

Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA.......... 13,15

United Auto Workers................................. 28,30

Ed Potoczac........................................................47,48,49

McAbee............................................................. 11

University of Kentucky................................... 67

Focus Fab......................................................... 39

Mexico..................................... 10,13,18,19,29,30

USMCA......................................... 18, 28,29,30,31

Ford...........................12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 25,27

Mercedes-Benz....................................................

UTZ.................................................................... 31

Formula SAE........................................... 57,58,59

.....................6, 14, 17, 20,21,22,23, 26, 27,29, 54

Venturi........................................................ 68,69

FuelFox............................................................. 17

Michael Rodenberg..................................................... 67

Vista Metals..................................................... 58

GAMA................................................................ 60

Mike Alvarez.............................................................68,69

Volkswagen................................12, 15,16, 18, 19

General Motors..........12,15, 16, 19, 24,25,26,27

Minact.............................................................. 35

Volvo.......................................................14, 17,33

Glenn Dennis................................................................ 14

Mississippi Economic Council........................ 38

Worthwhile...................................................... 80 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 / Southern Automotive Alliance 75

VINTAGE

Marathon Motors During the Brass Age of automobile manufacturing Nashville’s first homegrown car took to the streets TEXT BY: NICK PATTERSON // PHOTOS COURTESY OF: MARATHONVILLAGE.NET

I

f someone were to ask you how many cars are built in Nashville, Tennessee you might be forgiven for responding with the names of Nissan and GM vehicles. But the correct answer would not include either.

The only vehicle ever built in the city of Nashville was built more than 100 years ago: the Marathon.

Never heard of it? Not that surprising, considering that the Marathon was one of dozens of car nameplates that appeared and disappeared in the period between the late 1800s and the economic downturn of the Great Depression. In fact, the Marathon only lasted seven years — from 1907 to 1914, but that’s not to say those weren’t exciting years for the automaker.

Its history goes back to a postCivil War start up called the Sherman Manufacturing Company, which opened

in 1874. Later it was sold and renamed the Southern Engine and Boiler Works, which opened in Jackson, Tennessee in 1884, according to a story on TripSavvy. com called “The History of Nashville’s Marathon Motor Works.”

The company built steam engines and sawmills, and was prosperous enough to run ads touting its wares well past the turn of the century, and long after the Marathon had come and gone.

When Southern Engine and Boiler turned its attention to the booming field of automobile manufacturing, it relied on a mechanical engineer who was considered gifted — William H. Collier who, in 1906, began working on the car they would first call, “The Southern.”

The car had a slow start, as noted in a Wikipedia article: “The company’s newsletter daily remarked that the car ‘should move, but don’t.’”

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But Collier and his colleagues didn’t give up.

“Then as now it was common for auto manufacturers to outsource some of their components, concentrating on assembly and marketing, and perhaps manufacture of a few major systems. Southern Engine took a different approach however, and rather audaciously decided to engineer and build every single part of its car inhouse,” Wikipedia reports.

“By 1909, the company released two different models, the A9 and the B9.

Each vehicle featured a 35 horsepower, 4-cylinder engine,” says the website of trolleytours.com “The A9 was a fiveseater touring car, while the B9 was a rumble seat roadster. For just $1,500, people could purchase either, with a top being an optional extra.”

By 1910 Southern had successfully built 600 cars under that Southern brand, and attracted the attention of a Nashville businessman, and his investors, who bought the automotive concern, and relocated the operation to the former

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VI N T AG E

Marathon was soon on a genuine roll, even by the exuberant standards of the exploding auto industry. The cars acquired a good reputation for quality and durability, probably helped by the fact that the factory had total control of its parts, engineering and manufacturing. —Wikipedia Phoenix Cotton Mill building. Because there was already a company making cars under the same Southern name, the company decided to change the brand of it’s expanding vehicle line. It spun off into the Marathon Motor Works — the name inspired by the 1904 Olympics (where the actual marathon was the weirdest of all the weird things that happened at the competition that year) — and from 1910 forward the cars bore that badge.

When the company relocated to Nashville, it really took off, according to TripSavvy’s Jan Duke: “When relocation was complete, Marathon expanded its line from the original A9 Touring Car and B9 Rumble seat Roadster. By 1911 five models were offered, and by 1913 they had increased to 12 different models. The car was a complete success with the public, and production could hardly keep up with demand. Marathon

had dealers in every major city in America; by 1912 they had achieved production capacities of 200 cars monthly, with plans of 10,000 yearly.”

Wikipedia gives a similar account: “Marathon was soon on a genuine roll, even by the exuberant standards of the exploding auto industry. The cars acquired a good reputation for quality and durability, probably helped by the fact that the factory had total control of its parts, engineering and manufacturing.

New models and national advertising followed, and production soared to 10,000 units in 1912. Dealers were signed up literally on every continent and demand considerably exceeded supply.”

Despite all that good fortune in business and the shiny public image, the internal operations at Marathon were actually rife with turmoil. In 1913, Collier filed charges against his bosses, claiming they weren’t managing the company properly and that suppliers were not being paid. “The company had seen three presidents in four years,” Duke writes. “Through bad investments and management decisions, the company was in dire financial shape.”

In the end, production ground to a halt in 1914. The Herff Brothers and H.H. Brooks of Indiana, operating as Herff-Brooks Corporation, bought the assets of Marathon. Using some of the same personnel — Brooks had been a Marathon officer, himself — the company operated for a short time building the car in Indianapolis. But Herff-Brooks itself was out of business by 1916.

There are, according to some sources, as many as nine Marathon automobiles left, with four of them in the possession of the current owners of the Marathon Building and at least one in the hands of some Argentine collector as noted on Wikipedia: “ This unique car is in perfect running condition and it is owned by an Argentinian collector who has worked for two years in order to restore it. This collector has managed to maintain all its original parts as if it were just released for sale.”

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If the Marathon itself has fallen into relative obscurity, the same cannot be says for the building where it was built. That building has its own legacy.

According to TripSavvy, after Marathon stopped making cars in Nashville, “The Nashville Marathon building remained open, with a skeleton crew producing parts until 1918. The building sat vacant until 1922 when it was purchased by Werthan Bag Company and subsequently filled with machinery for cotton bag manufacturing.”

In 1990, Jackson-native real estate developer Barry Walker bought the abandoned Marathon Motors building – he also bought the Southern Engine and Boiler Works buildings in Jackson – and gave Marathon’s old home a new purpose. Now known as Marathon Village, the former car factory houses creative activities of several types. Walker’s “vision was to develop a thriving creative community that would serve as a cultural, artistic and performing arts venue,” according to Nashville Tours. “After purchasing the property, he began renovation. A challenging aspect to the refurbish was the fact that each of the buildings on the property had been built in different time periods, and thus were of different architectural styles. The new spaces that evolved are not only unique, they capture the essence, personality and creativity that the founders of Marathon possessed.”

One of the shops in Marathon Village is Antique Archaeology, famous as the location from the popular television show “American Pickers.”

Walker also devoted part of the space to a museum where he displays memorabilia and Marathon Motors cars themselves. It just demonstrates in a way, that like the name they bear, Marathons went quite a distance. n

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