EDITORS: Media interested in attending the seminars or obtaining complete agendas should contact Bernie DeGroat, News and Information Services, (313) 747-1847, or the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation, (313) 764-5592.

ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan’s annual Management Briefing Seminars, focusing on the automotive industry, world-class manufacturing and integrated product- process development, will take place Aug. 7-11 at the Grand Traverse Resort near Traverse City, Mich.

More than 1,000 senior managers and executives from business and industry are expected to attend at least one of the three sessions, which will feature dozens of top speakers discussing issues and trends in their respective fields.

“Focus on the Fundamentals,” the theme of the Automotive Seminar, Aug. 9-11, will explore how the auto industry can implement new approaches that complement, rather than replace, the basics of good business.

“In preparing for the 21st century, the automotive industry must maintain a focus on the fundamentals even as it strives to be more adaptive to new methods,” says moderator David E. Cole, director of the U-M Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation (OSAT). “Doing both may be the industry’s toughest challenge yet.”

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Automotive Seminar will include speakers G. Richard Wagoner Jr., executive vice president, General Motors Corp.; Jacques Nasser, group vice president, product planning, Ford Motor Co.; Mikio Kitano, president and CEO, Toyota Motor Manufacturing USA Inc.; Sham Rushwin, vice president, international manufacturing and minivan assembly operations, Chrysler Corp.; John Fiedler, president and CEO, Borg-Warner Automotive Inc.; and Akira Kataoka, president, Nippondenso America Inc.

–The World Class Manufacturing Seminar, Aug. 7-8, will identify and examine world-class standards and methods designed for changes needed to meet new global competition. It will be moderated by Donald N. Smith, associate director of manufacturing systems, OSAT; Walton M. Hancock, U-M professor of industrial and operations engineering; and Jay S. Baron, manager of manufacturing systems, OSAT.

Speakers include Donald L. Runkle, vice president and general manager, General Motors-Delphi Saginaw Steering Systems; Al Kinzer, president, BMW Manufacturing Inc.; Jim Lyijyen, general manager, advance manufacturing-engineering- assembly, Chrysler Corp.; Lutz Hanicke, project manager, vehicle concept, Volvo Car Corp.; and Joseph E. DiNucci, vice president, manufacturing industries, Silicon Graphics.

–The Integrated Product Process Development Seminar, Aug. 7-8, will focus on opportunities and challenges that companies face as they experiment with new approaches to organization and technology. Jeffrey K. Liker, U-M associate professor of industrial and operations engineering and director of the U-M’s Japan Technology Management Program, will moderate.

Among the speakers will be Stephen Homcha, executive vice president, engineering and product planning, Mack Trucks Inc.; Raymond Savoye, general manager of Laguna Project, Renault, France; Norman R. Bodine, president and CEO, United Technologies Automotive; Karl Wood, manager of information technology, Dana Corp; Kunihiko Masaki, executive vice president, Toyota Technical Center; and Thomas Bleckwedel, executive manager, corporate supplier quality evaluation, Volkswagen AG, Germany.

The seminars are sponsored by the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation at the U-M Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and the Office of Technology Transfer at the U-M College of Engineering, in cooperation with Automotive News.

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