Executive Management Forum returns to SPE conference.August 24, 2009 -
An Executive Management Forum on "Challenges and Opportunities in the New Automotive Industry," will return on Tuesday, October 6 to the 11th annual SPE® Automotive TPO Global Conference. Forum will provide opportunity for panelists not only to challenge olefin supply chain, but attempt to predict how auto industry will respond to critical issues around global sourcing, materials selection, and approvals process to meet new and more aggressive energy, cost, and quality targets.
Executive Management Forum Panel Discussion Returns to Eleventh SPE® Automotive TPO Conference |
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Society Of Plastics Engineers
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Press release date: August 21, 2009
TROY, (DETROIT) MICH. - An Executive Management Forum (panel discussion) on "Challenges & Opportunities in the New Automotive Industry," returns once again on Tuesday, October 6 from 12:30-2:00 p.m. to the eleventh-annual SPE® Automotive TPO Global Conference organized by the Detroit Section of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE®) International. The event, the world's leading forum for automotive usage of thermoplastic olefins (TPOs), will be held October 4-7, 2009 at the Sterling Inn, Sterling Heights, Mich. In a year that has seen unprecedented falloff in automotive production and sales, and concurrent drops in demand for all polymers, including polyolefins, this year's Executive Management Forum will provide an important opportunity for panelists not only to challenge the olefin supply chain, but attempt to predict how the auto industry will respond to critical issues around global sourcing, materials selection, and the approvals process to meet new and more aggressive energy, cost, and quality targets.
"While our Executive Management Forum is always lively," said Ron Price, president, Global Polymer Solutions and co-moderator of this year's SPE TPO panel discussion, "we expect our audience will be even more interested than usual to hear what our panelists have to say about the emerging face of the new automotive industry. Although the last year has been incredibly challenging for OEMs and the entire supply chain, barriers are coming down and there are tremendous new opportunities for the plastics industry - and in particular for olefin materials - to contribute to the production of cleaner, greener vehicles produced by a far leaner industry."
"In the midst of this painful paradigm shift," adds co-moderator, Bob Eller, president, Robert Eller Associates LLC, "we have to remember there are already many positives. First, we believe that we've hit bottom and recovery will start within 1-2 quarters. Second, we'll truly be seeing global vehicles now. Third, the domestic automakers finally have a product mix that will allow them to compete in this new paradigm. Their vehicles going forward will be smaller, provide better fuel economy, likely be powered by a range of alternative drivetrains, and will offer world-competitive quality. That is going to require a more efficient supply chain harnessing new technology, and working cooperatively with automakers on efficient materials usage. We also see increased use of plastics on all vehicles and in particular versatile, cost-competitive olefins should continue to dominate volume wise."
This year's SPE Automotive TPO Executive Management Forum will feature five distinguished panelists.
Executive Management Panelists
Matt Carroll is engineering group manager-Materials for Body Exterior, Electrical and Batteries at General Motors Co. Carroll was previously body vehicle systems engineer for the 2006MY Buick® Lucerne®. Before joining the automaker, Carroll worked for both a TPO supplier and a paint supplier. He holds a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering from Wayne State University and was a member of the SPE Detroit Section Board from 2005-2007. Carroll also has nine publications and one patent to his credit.
Dr. David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), is an internationally renowned speaker, writer, and expert on the automotive industry and will also be a keynote speaker at this year's SPE Automotive TPO Global Conference. Cole was formerly director of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation (OSAT) at the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. Cole has long organized the very influential annual Automotive Management Briefing held each August in Traverse City, Mich. He has also worked extensively on internal-combustion engines, vehicle design, and overall automotive industry trends. His recent research has focused on strategic issues related to restructuring of the North American industry and trends in globalization, technology, market factors, and human-resource requirements. Cole holds B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics, an M.S.M.E. and a Ph.D. - all from the University of Michigan.
Stephen Dwyer is senior vice-president at LyondellBasell Polyolefins where he is responsible for its automotive business in the Americas. He has worked in the olefins industry for over 28 years at both Exxon Chemicals and LyondellBasell serving in various leadership roles in both North America and Europe. Dwyer has also published and presented numerous papers on the olefins industry and technological developments.
Nand Kochhar is chief engineer-Global Materials Engineering & Standards, and executive technical leader-Global CAE at Ford Motor Co. Previous assignments at Ford have included chief engineer-Core Vehicle Engineering, chief engineer-Vehicle Attributes & CAE, vehicle engineering manager-F Series® Super Duty truck, and chassis design & release manager- Mondeo® in Europe. Kochhar has also held several supervisory and technical specialist positions within North American Product Development at the automaker.
Jeff Makarewicz has been vice-president-Materials Engineering Division at the Toyota Technical Center (TTC) - the North American research arm for Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing, North America, Inc. (TEMA) - since 2008, where he has responsibility for materials R&D, including materials research, design, development and evaluation. Makarewicz joined TTC in 1990 as an engineer in the Materials Engineering Department, Paint & Finishing Group and spent two years at Toyota Motor Corp. in Nagoya, Japan working on anti-corrosion materials evaluation, design, and development. Prior to joining Toyota, Makarewicz worked for BASF in the Paint and Colorants Division. He holds numerous patents and earned a B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Michigan.
Executive Management Moderators
Bob Eller is president of Robert Eller Associates LLC (REA), a firm specializing in management consulting for the global plastics and rubber industries where he and his team carry out numerous technology, strategy, and manufacturing analyses, pricing forecasts, productpositioning analyses, and crisis-management analyses in automotive plastics for clients around the world. Prior to forming his own firm in 1991, Eller worked in various positions at ExxonMobil, A. D. Little, Phillip Townsend Associates, Charles River Associates, and Multibase. He holds an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and M.S. degrees in Polymer Science and Chemical Engineering from Brooklyn Polytechnic.
Ron Price has spent over 35 years in global business management, marketing, and sales for both engineering plastics and olefin polymers, primarily in the durable goods and automotive sectors. In fact, he has launched over 20 new polymers and alloys for the automotive industry. He has worked at companies such as DuPont, Borg Warner Chemicals, ExxonMobil, and Huntsman and continues to be active as a marketing and business consultant for new business, strategic marketing, and sales development. He has published over 25 articles and has made hundreds of presentations at regional, national, and international events. Price is a recipient of three awards from the Detroit Section of SPE: Outstanding Achievement (2000), Lifetime Achievement (2005) and Outstanding Member (2006). He also was inducted as an Honored Service Member (2007) by SPE International.
In addition to the Executive Management panel discussion, the conference's technical agenda covers two-and-a-half days of programming and features more than 40 presentations and four keynote addresses from industry leaders discussing advanced products, new designs, and innovative solutions in automotive TPO usage.
About the TPO Conference
Since 1998, the SPE Automotive TPO Global Conference has highlighted the importance of rigid and flexible polyolefins throughout the automobile - in applications ranging from semistructural composite underbody shields and front-end modules to soft-touch interior skins and bumper fascia. Polyolefins have been the fastest-growing segment of the global plastics industry for a decade owing to their excellent cost / performance ratio. The polyolefin supply chain has experienced major changes in recent years, which are providing both challenges and opportunities for OEMs and the entire supply community. Two special sessions have been developed this year on Advanced Process Control and Troubleshooting for Injection Molding and Aluminum Tooling for Injection Molding to help olefin molders better achieve competitive advantages in the global marketplace.
The SPE Automotive TPO Global Conference is organized each year by a volunteer committee. The conference typically draws over 400 attendees from 20 countries on 4 continents. Roughly 35% of conference attendees work for an automotive OEM, with the balance made up of tier integrators and molders, resin suppliers, equipment OEMs, industry consultants, and members of academia. The event is held annually at the Best Western Sterling Inn (www.sterlinginn.com) in Sterling Heights, Mich.
The mission of SPE International is to promote scientific and engineering knowledge relating to plastics worldwide and to educate industry, academia, and the public about these advances. SPE's Detroit Section is active in educating, promoting, recognizing, and communicating technical accomplishments for all phases of plastics and plastic based-composite developments - particularly in the automotive industry. Topic areas include applications, materials, processing, equipment, tooling, design, and development.
For more information about the SPE Automotive TPO Global Conference, to view the conference's schedule of presentations, or to register to attend the event, please visit http://auto-tpo.com/ or ww.speautomotive.com/tpo.htm , or contact the group at +1.248.244.8993, or write SPE Detroit Section, Division, 1800 Crooks Road, Suite A, Troy, MI 48084, USA. For more information on the Society of Plastics Engineers International or other SPE events, visit the SPE website at www.4spe.org, or call +1.203.775.0471.
® SPE is a registered trademark of the Society of Plastics Engineers International. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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