Auto Part Suppliers Study Jobs
Automotive jobs will continue to leave Michigan, but there are remedies, says a report on the future of manufacturing to be delivered today at the opening session of the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Cobo Center in Detroit. The U.S. is expected to see an 11 percent drop in its automotive production jobs by 2010, according to “The Odyssey of the Auto Industry” a study conducted by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants for the Original Equipment Suppliers Association.
PPG Announces Management Assignments
PPG Industries has announced two management assignments. Reg Norton, director of global manufacturing and supply chain for PPG’s automotive refinish business unit, has been appointed global director, environment, health and safety, effective April 1. He will replace David Cannon Jr., vice president, environment, health and safety, who is leaving the company on March 31. Lynne Schmidt, director of government affairs, will be promoted to vice president, government and community affairs, and executive director of the PPG Industries Foundation, effective July 1.
Technology Outpaces Would-be Technicians
Help Wanted: Automotive technician. Starting salary: $30,000. Benefits include medical insurance, plus two weeks paid vacation and two long weekends off — that’s Thursday through Sunday — a year. How difficult is it to fill a job like that in Michigan’s lackluster economy? Plenty, according to Stan Shephard, owner of Shephard’s Hi Tech Automotive in Detroit. Shephard posted his help-wanted sign 18 months ago, and today the position remains unfilled. He’s had only 15 applicants for the job.
BWD Automotive Announces Vehicle Service Professional Rewards Program
BWD Automotive has launched a new Vehicle Service Professional (VSP) Rewards program, designed to foster, preserve and enhance the relationship among automotive repair technicians, distribution customers and BWD Automotive. The goal of VSP Rewards is to provide today’s professional automotive technician with up-to-date educational and reference tools required by an increasingly complex automotive repair industry.
Campaign to Bring Back the “Midas Touch”
Midas wants to return to its core value of trust with the resurrection of a marketing campaign first used in Midas advertising in the 1980s. The company’s new national advertising agency DDB Chicago is collaborating with Ogilvy & Mather Toronto on the “Trust the Midas Touch” campaign. The campaign will include commercials that take place in a Midas shop and show a humorous dialog between a customer of Midas and a Midas service employee, who is hooked up to a polygraph machine. The commercials are the first in a long-term campaign to grow Midas’ category-leading shares in brakes and exhaust and to support the expansion of its services, including oil changes and other routine maintenance services.
Union Plant to Make More Assurance Tires
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will expand production of its brand-new Assurance tire line at a union plant in Gadsden, Ala., ending a labor dispute that threatened to overshadow the product launch. The United Steelworkers of America accused Goodyear last month of violating a labor contract by building the new passenger tires at a nonunion plant in Lawton, Okla. The United Steelworkers of America accused Goodyear last month of violating a labor contract by building the new passenger tires at a nonunion plant in Lawton, Okla.
ChevronTexaco Celebrates 100th Anniversary of Havoline Brand
ChevronTexaco Global Lubricants is launching a year-long program to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Havoline brand. As part of the centennial celebration, ChevronTexaco said it is investing in numerous marketing programs and consumer promotions to drive the Havoline name in 2004, including sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Team competing in the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games, retro product packaging and a sweepstakes with a grand prize of $1 million.
2004 AAPEX Booth Selection Begins; New Online Process Initiated
As of March 1, all qualified companies participating in the 2004 Online Space Drawing for the 2004 Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) received their scheduled booth selection date and time for the Online Space Drawing. The Online Space Drawing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. (EST) on Monday, March 15.
Parts Distributor Leverages Technology to Achieve Growth Profitability
Georgia parts distributor, Powertrain Inc. of Savannah, has reported a 25 percent growth in the company’s billed labor time since it began using DST Inc.’s DSTWare Service module to manage both its parts distribution and service business. With 33 percent of its business mix consisting of service, the Durrence’s have said they attribute this growth to the software’s ease of use.
NASCAR Driver Bill Lester to Give Keynote Address at GAAS
Bill Lester, driver of the No. 8 BHR Dodge in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, will be the luncheon speaker on Tuesday, May 18, at the ninth annual Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium (GAAS). GAAS 2004 will take place on May 18-19, at the Hyatt Regency, Chicago, Ill.