Page 6 - MetalForming February 2022 Special Automotive Issue
P. 6

        Editorial
Brad F. Kuvin
The Only Constant is Change
Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “Change is the only constant in life.” There’s no better way than that to summarize life in the automotive industry today and in the foreseeable future. If your company serves as a link in the automotive supply chain, the business climate for you might get better or it might get worse, but we know one thing for certain: It will continue to evolve, and likely at an accelerated pace.
In life and in business, it’s important to not fear change and the unknown—especially when it’s inevitable—but rather to embrace it and make thoughtful choices to successfully adapt.
What changes are coming? The recently released KPMG 2021 Global Automotive Executive Survey foretells greater investments in autonomous/connected vehicles, advanced digital technologies, battery manufacturing and recyclability, and contract manufacturing.
“KPMG believes that many automakers and suppliers not only will divest nonstrategic assets and raise cash to invest in new technologies, but also partake in unprecedented M&A activity in the next 3 yr.,” reads the report summary. “Automakers need to rebuild their competitive advantages in areas of digital customer transformation, supply chain, sustainability and autonomous/connected vehicles.”
© 2022 by PMA Services Inc. 6363 Oak Tree Blvd. Independence, OH 44131 216/901-8800 | fax: 216/901-9669 www.metalformingmagazine.com magazine@pma.org
PMA President | David C. Klotz dklotz@pma.org
Vice President of Sales/Publisher
Michael C. Vohland
mvohland@pma.org
Editorial Director | Brad F. Kuvin bkuvin@pma.org
Senior Editor | Louis A. Kren lkren@pma.org
Editorial Manager | Marlene F. O’Brien mobrien@pma.org
Art Director | Nikki Formica nformica@pma.org
Production Manager | Susan Cubranich scubranich@pma.org
Circulation Manager | Melody Berendt mberendt@pma.org
Sales and Marketing Staff
Midwest U.S., Western U.S., New England, PA, NY, NJ and Canada Damon Wolf
Sales Manager 216/901-8800 | dwolf@pma.org
Michigan
Michael C. Vohland 216/901-8800 | mvohland@pma.org
South Atlantic, South Central Bob West 678/377-5749 | metalform_bobwest@msn.com
IA, IL, IN, MN, WI
Mark Fortuna 773/531-8780 | mfortuna@pma.org
Inside Sales
Ilene Schwartz 216/901-8800 | ischwartz@pma.org
Germany, Austria, Switzerland Christian Hoelscher
+49 (0) 89-95002778 christian.hoelscher@husonmedia.com
Marketing Manager | Drew Gutierrez dgutierrez@pma.org
Meetings & Events Manager | Katlyn Stratis kstratis@pma.org
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is strictly prohibited.
Use smart phone to go to www.metalformingmagazine.com
  “The next decade is slated to see business-model innovation on a global scale. Existing capabilities are not going to be enough; prepare to be stretched as never before.”
Specifically, the survey finds 85 percent of automotive executives considering new investments, acquisitions and partnerships in new-technology companies. To gen- erate the needed cash, 75 percent say they are “moder- ately to extremely likely” to divest non-strategic parts of their businesses.
Of no real surprise, executives say that their greatest concern lies with the supply chain, and near-term avail- ability and price of commodities and labor. More than
70 percent of U.S. executives are “very or extremely concerned” about labor shortages, and more than half expect to exert more control of the supply chain. Nearly two-thirds say that it is “very or extremely important” to make direct investments in suppliers.
When it comes to R&D initiatives, lightweighting surprisingly sits low on the totem pole for surveyed executives. Emphasis has shifted noticeably to developing new powertrain technologies and advanced autonomous-vehicle hardware and software.
Big changes lie ahead, the survey concludes. “New powertrains, relationships with con- sumers, modes of ownership, manufacturing processes, technologies and data flows...the next decade is slated to see business-model innovation on a global scale. ...Existing capabilities are not going to be enough...prepare to be stretched as never before. To succeed, companies will need to develop skills outside of their current competencies, from software development and software as a service, to artificial intelligence/deep learning algorithms, to customer analytics and massive, new data sets. ...If executives think that events are moving at a breakneck pace, they can expect the clock speed of change to go even faster in the coming years. The evolution of the automotive industry is rapidly accelerating, and the winners are likely to be those companies that make better decisions faster than their competitors.”
Editorial Director bkuvin@pma.org
                         4 MetalForming/February 2022
www.metalformingmagazine.com
























































   4   5   6   7   8