09.18.17 – Each year North American Diecasters Association (NADCA) presents the David Laine Internship & Scholarship Program provides scholarship opportunities to college students that have interned/co-opped with die casting companies/companies that are suppliers to the die casting industry. Last year, …
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Category Archives: Auto Parts
Motor Trend Names Ford Fusion Car of the Year
DETROIT (AP) — The 2010 Ford Fusion was named Motor Trend magazine’s car of the year Tuesday, beating out the Toyota Prius, BMW 7-Series, Chevrolet Camaro and others in the closely watched competition.
It was yet another accolade for Ford Motor Co.’s midsize sedan, which got high reliability scores in the most recent rankings from Consumer Reports and was the top-selling car made by a Detroit automaker through October. U.S. Fusion sales were up 15 percent in the first 10 months of this year, to 148,045, despite a 25 percent drop in overall car sales.
Still, the mid-size Fusion continues to lag behind the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord – perennial leaders in the competitive U.S. mid-size market.
Motor Trend said the Fusion can compete with the Camry and Accord in performance, comfort and fuel efficiency. It praised Ford for offering several versions of the Fusion, including a fuel-efficient gas-electric hybrid and a sporty version with a V-6 engine.
“Ford has proven its resilience in these tough times by delivering to market a car with broad appeal to a broad range of consumers,” Motor Trend Editor in Chief Angus MacKenzie said in a statement.
Motor Trend considered 23 new or significantly refreshed vehicles. The Fusion, introduced in the 2006 model year, was redesigned for 2010 with a new lineup of engines and transmissions, new exterior and interior and new options, including the Sync entertainment system and a blind-spot warning system.
Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president of global product development, said the 2010 Fusion has a sportier look and better fuel economy than previous versions. It gets 34 miles per gallon on the highway when equipped with a four-cylinder engine and six-speed automatic transmission. The gas-electric hybrid version gets 41 miles per gallon in the city.
The Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan, Buick LaCrosse, Lexus HS 250h and Hyundai Genesis coupe were among the cars Motor Trend considered. The Fusion also beat out other Ford models, including the Mustang sports car and Taurus sedan.
It was the first time a Ford car had won since 2003, when the Ford Thunderbird got the honor, Kuzak said. Ford’s 2009 F-150 was Motor Trend’s truck of the year last fall. The Nissan GT-R was the car of the year for 2009.
“It reinforces the progress that we’ve made, particularly on the car side of the business,” Kuzak told The Associated Press. “When people think of trucks they think Ford, but we needed to put Ford cars and crossovers in people’s consideration.”
Motor Trend conducts road tests on each vehicle and judges vehicles in six categories: design advancement, engineering excellence, intended function, efficiency, safety and value.
Source: www.manufacturing.net
Kinetic Die Casting is a die casting company specializing in aluminum and zinc parts. If you would like to request a quote, please visit our website:Kinetic Die Casting Company
Automotive Production Up at GM Canada
Automotive Production Up at GM Canada. Some 150 previously laid-off employees are set to return to work at a General Motors manufacturing plant in Canada to meet rising demand for sport utility vehicles, officials said on Nov. 9.
The Ingersoll, Ontario plant, owned by GM-Suzuki Motor Corp. joint venture CAMI Automotive, received a 90-million dollar (US$85 million) injection to retool and renovate its body shop over the next seven months.
The refurbishing aims to boost the plant’s capacity in order to meet strong demand for the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain, said GM. The vehicles are “two of GM’s hottest selling products,” Arturo Elias, president of GM Canada, said.
“This investment is an excellent example of what happens when you get the product right,” he said. “If the product is right, everything else follows — increased production, increased employment and strong market demand.”
The upgrade will allow production at the plant of an additional 40,000 vehicles annually for the Canadian and U.S. markets.
The staff recall is in addition to more than 300 employees re-hired in October, and marks CAMI’s return to full staffing with no remaining employees on layoff.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009
GM Automotive Reneges Opel Automotive Deal
Thursday, November 5, 2009
By Joe Brown
Without full details or even a reasonable explanation from General Motors Automotive, many people are scratching their heads as to why the all-but-signed deal to sell their subsidiary, Opel to parts-maker Magna, fell through.
Was it driven by the report that came out today stating October was the carmaker’s best year over year in a long time? I hope not. Regardless of the dynamics of the decision, I think this will go down as a key lesson in future business textbooks and case studies about the dangers of mixing Wall Street with Capitol Hill.
At this moment, our friends in Germany fall somewhere between annoyed and completely miffed. The thought–at least according to German workers–is that GM will likely make more cuts than Opel would have. Further, officials orchestrated a “bridge loan” to ensure Opel’s solvency while a buyer was found which they thought was finalized when Magna’s aspirations to become an even bigger player than it already was.
My concern lies with the solid relationship America had fostered with Germany may be strained slightly. The U.S. government is now the majority owner of GM (although they immediately issued a statement attempting to wash their hands of having any input in the decision) and their close ally is Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
The Chancellor and her cabinet had strongly supported and worked feverishly on doing whatever it took to make this deal happen. Now, her office felt completely blindsided by this and I bet only stronger and more critical comments will be out from them in the coming days. One official from Merkel’s office stated that she is considering a call to President Obama to voice her displeasure.
“After many promises and months of negotiations, GM has left workers out in the cold. This attitude from General Motors shows the ugly face of turbo capitalism. It is completely unacceptable,” according to the Chancellor’s deputy leader, Juergen Ruettgers.
True to the old adage, you can’t please them all; the US finds itself smack in the middle of a situation they probably didn’t realize before becoming a majority shareholder of a giant company. Even Russia–strong supporters of the Opel-Magna deal–released a statement from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s office calling the decision, “absolutely astonishing.”
I worry that it may be difficult for our government to save face despite the best public relations money can buy stating they had no influence on this decision (which I do believe) yet they are technically the majority owner of the company. When’s the last time you heard of a group with a controlling interest (51 %+) in an organization not have any influence on a decision of this magnitude? It just doesn’t happen and is quite the conundrum.
Now, GM execs are scrambling to update a new restructuring plan for Opel and Vauxhall.
Oil crisis boosts aluminum auto parts use
Oil crisis boosts aluminum auto parts use. There’s a silver lining in the escalating crude oil prices for the aluminum die casting industry. The high fuel prices has renewed consumer demand for lighter, more fuel efficient and environment-friendly cars, prompting the automotive industry to increase usage of aluminum auto parts.
Aluminum now ranks second behind steel among materials used in car manufacturing. Two years ago, the average aluminum content of cars worldwide has already reached close to 280 pounds, with the average in the North American auto industry even higher at an average of 319 pounds. The world average aluminum content of cars in 2002 has been estimated at 274 pounds and at 251 pounds, clearly indicating an uptrend which in the process had aluminum auto parts overtook plastic and iron in usage by the automobile industry.
Reducing the weight of the vehicle is among the primary avenues by which car manufacturers endeavor to reduce the automobile’s consumption of fuel and emission of greenhouse gases. Car Part designers estimate that a 10% weight reduction in automobiles could reduce fuel consumption by 6-8%. If the steel body of a car is changed to aluminum, weight could be reduced by 50%. This in turn would result in an estimated savings of 3,000 liters of fuel and gas emission reduction by 7,500 kilograms during the entire lifetime of the average car. The growing list of aluminum auto parts include instrument support panels, cylinder heads, engine blocks, wheels, front and rear bumper beams, side impact beams, engine sub-frame assemblies, suspension components, roof structures and closure panels.
Kinetic Die Casting is a aluminum and zinc die casting company. If you would like to know more information, please visit our website:Kinetic Die Casting Company
World Auto Parts Suppliers look to USA
Global auto suppliers are still looking to the United States for growth, despite the North American industry’s recent struggles.
Mexico City’s Grupo Bocar is building a third injection-molding plant for its Plastic Tec group. Grupo Bocar was promoting its capabilities at the Management Briefing Seminars.
Italian auto suppliers, meanwhile, are touting their knowledge of Fiat S.p.A. Fiat took charge of Chrysler Group in June.
Fiat and Chrysler “are in an early limbo stage now, but there are opportunities. It is going to happen,” said Luigi Giachino, business development manager for Mecaprom Technologies Corp., of Bergamo, Italy, during an interview at the forum yesterday.
Mecaprom has opened its first suburban Detroit office. It is looking for a partner in the region. It wants to combine its knowledge of small engine development with Fiat with an established North American supplier.
The company is part of an outreach program through the Italian American Alliance for Business and Technology. The alliance centers around suppliers in Turin, Fiat’s home, and wants to make connections with Chrysler Group and its supply base.
Many of the alliance companies have had business in North America but expect to build on that now that Fiat will be working with Chrysler Group on future small vehicles, said alliance President Massimo Denipoti.
Grupo Bocar already is a direct supplier to U.S., European and Japanese carmakers with business units producing aluminum die cast parts, machined parts and plastics.
Plastic Tec made the first in-mold application of a textile skin for an auto interior part in North America for the Volkswagen Jetta. Jaime Puente, office manager at the supplier, said it also makes air vents for BMW’s plant in Spartanburg, S.C., replacing auto parts previously made in Europe.
