Early registration discount ends February 29 for OESA's executive breakfast briefing and panel discussion, "Increasing Profitability by Closing the Quoting, Costing and Forecasting Loop," March 13, 2008, at the Troy Marriott, Troy, Mich. The meeting will present information about an aligned tool set suppliers may implement to forecast essential future financial and operational KPIs.
A panel of industry executives, including Dan Sceli, vice president and general manager, The Woodbridge Group, and Paul Wheeler, strategic planning and marketing manager, global fuel systems, TI Automotive, will discuss the benefits of implementing a "closed loop" strategy to provide real-time, rolling financial and operational forecasts that support strategic and tactical decision making. Suppliers can actively move their customer and product portfolios to greater profitability by linking commercial bidding, operational planning and capital market strategies together in a "closed loop" solution.
Ravi Kant was shocked. As head of commercial vehicles at India's Tata Motors, Kant had traveled to the Korean port city of Gunsan to examine the failing Daewoo conglomerate's truck division, which was being auctioned. When Kant asked a midlevel Daewoo manager which bidder he preferred, the Korean replied that a European suitor would best secure his company's future. "I realized we had to change our entire strategy," Kant recalls, "and tell the Koreans what Tata was about."
Kant quickly put together a massive public-relations effort: Tata executives were enrolled in Korean language classes, company brochures were translated into Korean, and Tata began making presentations to employees, the local auto association chief, the mayor of Gunsan, officials in Seoul, even Korea's Prime Minister. If Tata were chosen, Kant's team explained, it would preserve jobs, build Daewoo into a major exporter, and blend the outfit seamlessly with the parent company. "Tata had done its homework in everything needed to do business here," says Chae Kwang Ok, chief executive of Tata Daewoo. The Indians won the auction, paying $102 million.
Japanese truck maker Hino is bidding to tap the opportunities for growth available to foreign companies in Russia's commercial vehicle sector. According to industry sources, Hino will build a manufacturing plant near Vladivostok, with the aim of selling 10,000 units a year in the country from 2008. Hino is also expected to extend its dealership network to Moscow and other regions. The development forms part of the company's overall strategy of boosting overseas truck sales to 150,000 units by 2016.
In BMI's view, foreign investment is the key to unlocking growth in Russia's commercial vehicle sector. The Russian market has great potential for expansion, with demand growth consistently high. Major hurdles Russian automotive firms have to overcome include their reputation for poor build quality, outdated models and a production capacity oriented towards trucks with heavier loads, which are falling in terms of their share of the national truck fleet. Russian commercial vehicle manufacturers have increasingly found themselves competing with imports of used vehicles. For example, many local authorities are giving contracts to suppliers of imported used buses instead of new buses supplied by local manufacturers, despite the high rate of tariffs. The main reason is that used vehicles with foreign brands are more durable, reliable and safe than new Russian-branded commercial vehicles and therefore cost less to maintain.
It was announced that Honeywell International was bumped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average after 82 years on the list. Other companies with ties to the automotive and heavy duty industries that were removed from the Dow include Goodyear, Chevron, Sears and Navistar.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, first created as a 12-stock index in 1896, is today comprised of 30 companies considered to be among the most prestigious businesses in the U.S. Among the new companies entering the Dow are Caterpillar, Home Depot, Coca-Cola, Walt Disney Co. and Verizon.
Elyria, OH-Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC, honored the intellectual property accomplishments of more than 50 company engineers during National Engineers Week, February 17-23. The company was granted 17 United States patents and filed applications for 21 others last year.
"Our culture and work environment at Bendix is one that fosters innovation and continuous improvement, particularly as it relates to making highways safer for commercial vehicles and those with which they share roads," says Joseph McAleese, president and CEO, Bendix.