Automotive Manufacturing Solutions Magazine – Issue 2, 2024

Looking back over this year, we have seen some important changes in the automotive industry, notably regarding EV strategies. These shifts in strategy have increased the need for greater flexibility in production and have contributed to the resurgence of hybrid powertrains.

In this issue, we focus on the North American automotive manufacturing sector, which reflects many of these challenges. We provide insights into current and planned production operations across the US, Canada, and Mexico. This creates an interesting picture of the different positioning of carmakers, as several significant projects involving new EVs and battery production have been delayed or canceled. However, these shifts have also led to growth in other areas of production, particularly around hybrid powertrains. Our feature on this topic examines which companies are best positioned to respond to the growing demand for hybrids and where investments are being made outside of pure electric powertrains.

Coming back to EV production, BorgWarner shares insights into how tier suppliers are adapting and investing in their production networks to meet the challenges of EV system and component production. Additionally, we have features on gigacasting, exploring the uptake of this technology and the various approaches to battery pack quality control.

Sustainability remains a significant topic in manufacturing, with companies continuously developing innovative ways to improve the circularity of their production operations. We include great insights into BMW’s innovative ‘Design for Circularity’ and ‘Secondary First’ approaches.

The pace of change in the automotive industry shows no sign of slowing down, with vehicle makers and tier suppliers facing volatile markets, rising costs, and fierce competition. It will be interesting to see how the industry responds to these challenges. Undoubtedly, there will be difficult decisions to make, but there will also be more innovations in technologies, processes, and materials to create the solutions needed.

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Features include:

• Roberto Rossetti discusses BMW’s innovative Design for Circularity and Secondary First approaches.

• Ford’s Technical Specialist for Battery Pack assembly, Marc Dugas on applying POSIWID to support assembly processes.

• North America focus: US OEMs content with EV slowdown, tariffs, IRA & China

• Canadian vehicle and component production operations are feeling the impact of slow EV sales.

• Mexico continues to attract foreign automotive investment including Chinese EV manufacturers.

• Stellantis chief manufacturing officer Arnaud Deboeuf reveals AI supported technologies aimed at reducing transition costs and time to market.

• BorgWarner shares insights into how the company is leveraging existing assets and using mergers and acquisitions to boost EV related production.

• From Tesla to Volvo, Megacasting is gaining traction. While it offers efficiency and sustainability benefits, challenges remain.

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