Page 42 - MetalForming April 2017

Auto Forecast
off with a retail-sales decline since 2010, the seasonally adjusted annual retail rate remains robust. The chal- lenges for the industry remain main- taining profitability while coping with high inventory levels and elevated incentives, which continue to rise year over year.”
IHS Markit predicts the U.S. auto industry will sell 17.37 million vehicles in 2017, revised from an earlier-pre- dicted 17.5 million. This is due in part to rising inventories and automakers’ use of incentives.
More Info at APSC 2017
For the latest numbers and a look at trends shaping the auto industry and its supply chain, attend the Preci-
sion Metalforming Association’s Auto Parts Supplier Conference (APSC), April 25-26 at the Detroit Marriott in Troy, MI. Joe Langley will present the IHS Automotive Light Vehicle Production Forecast, spanning more than 50 coun- tries, 600 plants and 2300 models over a 7-yr. forecast horizon. Also scheduled:
• Engaging Employees—Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement, a presentation on workforce develop- ment and its role in producing better products and a better company, by Alfredo Alonso of Dana Corp.
• The Clock-Speed Dilemma, explor- ing how different clockspeeds exist between the innovation and product development cycles of car hardware, information-and-communication-tech-
nology (ICT) hardware components and ICT software, and how that hampers the process, by Gary Silberg of KPMG.
• Top Legal Issues Facing Automo- tive Industry in 2017 and Beyond, focusing on legal and regulatory issues affecting the automotive supply chain, by Dan Sharkey of Brooks Wilkins Sharkey & Turco PLLC.
• President Trump, the Automotive Sector & NAFTA 2.0, assessing the effect of the current political and regulatory climate on the auto industry, by David Hamill and Birgit Matthiesen, Arent FoxLLP.
• AIAG NexGen of Core Tool Software, a discussion of industry-specific quality tools, by John Cachet of PeProSo LLC.
In addition, ERP-software provider
Safety Act of ‘66—Government
and the Auto Industry Have Been Linked Ever Since
Fifty years back, the pages of MetalForming’s predecessor, Metal Stamping, illustrated mandated safety standards for the typical 1968 passen- ger vehicle, a first for the automotive industry. The standards resulted from the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, enacted in a whirl- wind manner after lawyer and con- sumer activist Ralph Nader the previ- ous year published “Unsafe at Any Speed,” a critique of the U.S. auto industry. The act empowered the fed- eralgovernmenttosetandadminister new safety standards for motor vehi- cles and road-traffic safety. Signed into law in September 1966, the act outlined the first mandatory federal safety standards for motor vehicles, and created the National Highway Safety Bureau (now National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).
Upon the Senate’s 76-0 vote to pass the act, President Lyndon Johnson remarked, “For the first time in our his- tory, we can mount a truly comprehen- sive attack on the rising toll of death and destruction on the nation’s high- ways that last year alone claimed
Standardized windshield wiping/washing system
Conveniently placed driver control system
Standardized steering- column length
Collapsible steering column Glare-reducing
surface finishes
No hazardous
projections on wheel hubs
Improved tire standards
Windshield defrosting/ defogging systems
40 MetalForming/April 2017
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Strongerdoorlatches/supports Standardizedhydraulic brakes/parking-brake
Improved hydraulic- brake-hose system
Standardized load distribution on tires
50,000 lives...We can no longer toler- ate such anarchy on wheels.”
The safety standards became mandatory for automakers in their 1968 models, an incredibly short time- frame given that the standards would become finalized on January 31, 1967. That left little time to formulate them, and not much longer for their imple- mentation in the 1968 models.
In a sometimes-contentious process, the Automobile
Manufacturers Association’s newly formed Safety Standards Committee assisted government officials in draft- ing and reviewing the standards, with the final result leaving both industry and safety advocates somewhat unhappy. Today, vehicle safety and the role of government in automotive- industry issues (trade deals and CAFÉ standards, for example) remain hot- button topics...and trends that most likely will forever keep trending.
Padded interior or no protuberances
system
Standardized seatbelt assembly
Rearview mirror with unobstructed view
Automatic gear sequence
Stronger seat anchorage
Strongerseatbelt anchorages
Additional vehicle lights
New safety-glass requirements
Headrests
Fuel-system standards
Six seatbelts instead of four