Automotive
11 articles
- How to Run a SMED Changeover Study on a Stamping Press
A practical guide to running a SMED changeover study on a stamping press. Film and time the die change, separate internal from external work, streamline what is left without skipping the safety rules, and use a worksheet to decide whether the freed minutes go to capacity or to smaller batches.
Oct 8, 2026
- What Adding a Third Shift Costs a Nissan Supplier
Nissan says its next step in the US is three shifts and no new factory. Suppliers asked to keep pace need a cost model that covers the shift differential, per-head benefits, support staff, fatigue risk and lost maintenance time, and that accounts for a customer that has changed direction twice in 18 months.
Oct 7, 2026
- How to Answer a 30% Price-Down Letter Without Losing the Program
Honda has asked tier-one suppliers for 30% cost reductions on pressings, electricals and SDV parts, according to internal documents reviewed by Reuters. Top-100 supplier EBIT averaged 6.9% last year, so the number cannot come out of margin. Here is the clean-sheet counter, line by line.
Sep 5, 2026
- Ford Just Retired the Moving Assembly Line at Louisville — and Turned 146 Parts Into 2
Ford says it converted 3 million square feet at Louisville Assembly Plant from combustion to fully electric in under a year, replacing the single moving conveyor with three parallel sub-assembly branches that marry late. The engineering is genuinely novel. The arithmetic that has to follow it is the harder story.
Aug 18, 2026
- The Reshoring Boom's Mirror Image: Honda Torches $15.7B in EV Plans as GM, Ford and Samsung Idle Battery Lines
As roughly $1.765 trillion in reshoring commitments pile up on the U.S. industrial map, the domestic EV powertrain buildout is contracting: Honda scrapped its entire North American EV program at up to $15.7B, Ford booked a $19.5B charge, and GM and Samsung SDI idled a $3.5B Indiana battery plant after the federal EV credit expired.
Jul 18, 2026
- Hyundai and SK Just Switched On a $5B Battery Plant in Georgia — as Rivals Mothball Theirs
A $5 billion cell plant in Bartow County has begun production just as America's battery belt idles and repurposes EV lines. Here's why Hyundai and SK On are ramping into a glut — and what captive domestic cells do for tariff exposure and the race to become the No. 2 EV brand.
Jul 16, 2026
- The USMCA Just Went Off the Clock: Trump's 82% Auto-Content Push Leaves Assembly Lines Waiting on a Deadline That No Longer Exists
The July 1 joint review produced neither renewal nor termination — it converted a one-time checkup into an open-ended annual-review regime out to 2036. Now the U.S. wants auto regional content raised to 82% with a 50%-U.S. carve-out, and Section 232 tariffs are the stick. Here's the operator math.
Jul 9, 2026
- Ultium's Recall Date Just Slipped to August: The EV Battery Layoff Wave Is the Reshoring Boom Running in Reverse
Ultium Cells pushed the return of its idled Ohio battery workers from June to August 2026, citing a hard look at the EV market. The slipping date is a cleaner read on demand than any capacity headline — and it sits inside a year-long layoff wave at the gigafactories that anchored the reshoring story.
Jun 26, 2026
- The UAW's Stellantis Strike Vote Is About Mexico, Not Money
The 2026 Stellantis-UAW fight has moved past 2023 contract wages into a war over plant allocation — and the Midwest Tier 1 base has sunk capex on the line.
May 31, 2026
- Stellantis's AI-Manufacturing Plan With Accenture and NVIDIA: Automotive Capex Is Consolidating Around One Vendor Triangle
Stellantis and Accenture announced plans — not a signed deal — to build AI-driven, digital-twin manufacturing with NVIDIA. The disclosed scope is narrow and metric-free. The story operators should track is consolidation: the deliverable closely mirrors Accenture's off-the-shelf Physical AI Orchestrator, hardening a de facto reference architecture even as Stellantis runs deeply negative industrial free cash flow.
May 19, 2026
- Stellantis Is Putting Accenture and NVIDIA Between Its Plants and Its P&L — What 'AI-Driven Manufacturing' Actually Has to Prove on the Line
Stellantis announced plans for an AI digital-twin partnership with Accenture and NVIDIA — with no OEE, scrap, or cost target attached. Here is what comparable programs have actually delivered, and the integration math that decides whether year one moves the line.
May 19, 2026