Friday, November 15, 2013

Toolmaker shortage could stall in U.S. auto manufacturing

Bottlenecks are in the cards for U.S. automakers and their North American supply chain, according to Detroit consulting firm Harbour Results.

The firm's recent study warns that in five years' time, the North American auto industry will experience a 40 percent shortage in their ability to screw together cars and trucks, due to falling short $6 billion in tooling capacity.

As it stands, the auto industry will need $15.2 billion in tooling each year to avoid this logjam, and current industry capacity is $9.3 billion.

There are only 750 tool shops in North America, down a third from their peak in the late 1990s, due in part to the global recession. Further, the average age of a toolmaker in the shops is around 52, and few new toolmakers are coming up the ranks to replace them. Harbour Results' CEO Laurie Harbour states the training of a toolmaker takes six years to complete.

The automakers are planning to introduce 154 new models between now and 2018, with a third to be manufactured in 2014. With each new model requiring around 3,000 new tools to screw them all together, if not more due to increasing complexity, capacity can only continue to be strained.

Automakers producing goods in North America prefer to keep their business inside the NAFTA zone. Chinese and German toolmakers are planning to set up shop in the economic zone soon in an effort to attract the business of U.S. automakers.

For more of The Truth About Cars story: thetruthaboutcars.com

More Techwire stories

Apple invests record $10.5B in manufacturing tech (video)

Container ships plug in at Port of Oakland

Massive iceberg could enter shipping lanes

Inside the Maersk McKinney Moeller, the world's biggest container ship (slide show)

Click to browse past stories on these topics:

Logistics

Ports & Infrastructure

Economic Outlook

Environmental Impact

Technology