Profits for all

During the "17 million vehicles sold—where's the profit" session at the Technology Theater session on Monday, James Orchard, President of North America and Asia, Visteon, said that in past the industry had became "very fat and very arrogant," and that arrogance prompted companies to diversify outside their areas of expertise, go on buying sprees, and partake of other indulgences. "Every time we get a little wider, we dilute our expertise," Orchard said.

The U.S. automotive industry's overstretched profit margin correlates to an outdated business model that is flush with flaws, including excess capacity, high labor costs, high retiree-to-worker ratio, and excess waste that permeates all of the supply chain. One solution calls for closer coordination in strategic planning between suppliers and OEMs. "We've become an industry known for re-inventing the wheel," said Mike Laisure, President of Engine & Fluid Management Group, Dana Corp.

Donald Runkle, Vice Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, Delphi Corp., suggested the waste between suppliers and automakers begins in the design stages and continues through engineering, tooling, and production phases. "Closer collaboration could reduce the cost," said Runkle.

Alan Shaffer, Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing, American Axle & Manufacturing, suggested the sourcing process begin at an early product development stage. "Cost starts with design," said Shaffer.

While being first-to-market can net profits, companies should realize that technical innovation is often short-lived. "Innovation is no longer a sustainable competitive advantage," said George Perry, President & CEO, Yazaki North America.

- Kami Buchholz

Aisin grows in North America

The new Aisin six-speed automatic transmission for light trucks provides better fuel economy and engine braking.

One of Japan's leading suppliers, Aisin, is now a conglomerate of 121 companies with worldwide sales in 2002 of $11.4 billion. In North America, 22 of its companies combined for total sales of $1.1 billion. Plans for growth in North America include building automatic transmissions in North Carolina—the first such Aisin plant outside of Japan—and increasing aluminum casting production at the Kentucky plant by 50% to meet demand.

Six-speed transmissions are rapidly becoming popular for the improved fuel economy and better driving characteristics they provide. Aisin is supplying both manual and automatic versions for front- and rear-wheel drive, and the transaxle for the hybrid Ford Escape.

Advics is the chassis products division within the Aisin group, the name being derived from ADVanced Intelligent Chassis Systems. "We are the only company that provides a complete brake system from pedals to pads," said Gordon Daig, Vice President, Advics. The Toyota Sienna minivan features the Advics braking system, which supports adaptive cruise control. It also has a mechanical brake booster that provides extra power for emergency events.

- David Alexander

Handling calibration duties

The flexible hardware concept of the dSpace Calibration System.

The public unveiling of a new calibration system is grabbing the attention of calibration and test bench engineers, measurement and test engineers as well as controller design engineers.

"With the new calibration system, dSpace provides a complete suite of tools for a mature, model-based ECU software development process, which is essential for OEMs and tiers to reduce costs and development times and to increase the software quality," said Andre Rolfmeier, Product Manager of Calibration for dSpace (booth 1601).

The dSpace Calibration System provides CalDesk (calibration software for modifying parameters on the ECU, downloading and uploading parameter sets, measuring or data recording ECU internal and external variables, data set and project management) as well as a generic memory emulator (for high-speed data acquisition, data logging and ECU calibration), a dSpace USB-to-CAN interface, ground isolation into the USB cable, and a calibration hub. Connection to the host PC can be either direct or via the dSpace Calibration Hub. The number of interfaces can be increased via cascading several calibration hubs.

The implementation of a special USB communication protocol with error detection and correction and a dSpace-developed opto-isolation essentially "guarantee a secure data transmission," according to Rolfmeier. A data buffer, several megabytes in size, saves information in the event the USB connection is interrupted. An on-board flash memory saves the current software status, even if the power supply fails.

- Kami Buchholz