Annual Management Briefing Seminars on auto industry Aug. 6-10

Management Briefing Seminars on auto industry Aug. 6-10

EDITORS: Media interested in attending the seminars or obtaining complete agendas should contact Bernie DeGroat, (734) 647-1847, or consult the MBS 2001 Web page at www.erim.org/car/mbs2001.

ANN ARBOR—The 36th annual Management Briefing Seminars, the automotive industry’s premier conference, will take place Aug. 6-10 at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa near Traverse City, Mich.

More than 1,500 leaders from the global auto industry are expected to attend the conference, which is co-sponsored by the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering through its Center for Professional Development, the U-M Transportation Research Institute‘s Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation (OSAT), and the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) at the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM).

The week-long event will feature the three-day flagship Automotive seminar (Aug. 8-10), “Driving to the New Business Model: Collaboration, Speed and Value,” moderated by David E. Cole, industry analyst and director of CAR. Nine additional seminars, focusing on world-class manufacturing, the automotive supply chain, information technology, e-commerce and telematics, will take place Aug. 6-7.

Nearly 100 executive-level speakers from major automobile manufacturers, automotive suppliers, other related businesses and industries, and government and academia will participate.

These include John Devine, vice chairman and chief financial officer, General Motors Corp.; Wolfgang Bernhard, chief operating officer, DaimlerChrysler Corp.; Karen Francis, president, ConsumerConnect e-Business Unit, Ford Motor Co.; Koki Hirashima, president and chief executive officer, Honda of America; Gary Convis, president, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky; Kevin English, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Covisint; Richard Snyder, founder and chief executive officer, Ardesta; and Tom Stallkamp, vice chairman and chief executive officer, MSX International.

The Auto 2001 seminar will address the challenges faced in remaking the industry in a way that will lead to reasonably good profits for both manufacturers and suppliers while meeting the growing demand of customers, Cole says.

“This year’s theme promotes the need for a redesign of the entire business model to allow the automotive industry to survive and prosper,” he says. “Selling a record number of vehicles but with marginal profitability is only one sign of the need for this change. The pressures will undoubtedly grow and increase the sense of urgency in the days ahead. We must use this knowledge to craft a new way of doing business, one that will continue to provide value to its customers.”

OSAT Director Michael S. Flynn, chairman of three sessions, says that this evolution will require improved collaboration across the auto industry.

“Companies will find that their future success is tied to their ability to change and adapt to the industry’s new business model, which requires new levels of cooperation across the supply chain,” he says. “Expanding cooperation, attention to business fundamentals and careful pursuit of the opportunities offered by e-business tools will help the industry significantly reduce costs while delivering better products to customers.”

For more information or to register for the Management Briefing Seminars, call CAR, (734) 662-1287, or consult the MBS 2001 Web page at www.erim.org/car/mbs2001.

www.erim.org/car/mbs2001Management Briefing SeminarsCollege of EngineeringDavid E. ColeJohn DevineMichael S. Flynnwww.erim.org/car/mbs2001