Kickstart: More shortages in the supply chain

Remember early in the pandemic when it was hard to find staples like bread, beans and flour at the grocery store? (And toilet paper, of course.)

We've gone on to see shortages in acrylic sheet as schools, shops and offices worked to set up barriers around people. And of course shortages in feedstocks and other items are causing big price spikes for resins.

Well, add another item to the shortages story. Carmakers are having to slow production because the stock of semiconductors is running low.

Our sister paper Automotive News reports that Ford Motor Co. said it will idle its Louisville Assembly Plant this week because of a semiconductor shortage that is threatening to disrupt the industry.

"Roughly 3,900 workers who build the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair will be on temporary layoff Jan. 11 through Jan. 17. Hourly workers will receive 75 percent of their gross pay during the down time," Mike Martinez writes.

It has also hit FCA, Honda, Nissan and some European automakers.

Global makers of semiconductors scaled back output during the lockdowns of early 2020. Now these manufacturers are slowly catching up to demand that is ramping back up.

We have four finalists for the Plastics News Processor of the Year for 2020, and three of them may be familiar.

Diversified Plastics Inc., MMI Engineered Solutions Inc. and Plastek Industries Inc. are repeat finalists. Comar LLC is a first-time finalist.

All four companies are injection molders but have other plastics operations as well. Comar also does blow molding, DPI has a large rapid prototyping business, and both MMI and Plastek have big tooling operations.

The judges for this year's award will find things a little different while picking a winner for 2020, namely that the editorial staff won't be able to visit the companies. The plant visits have always been a big part of the editorial staff's final choices, but — like every other element of doing business during a pandemic — we'll make it work.

Congratulations to Comar, DPI, MMI and Plastek.

Does this logo make you think Silicon Valley rather than the Rust Belt?

General Motors Co. sure hopes so. It's a refreshed logo the Detroit carmaker will use for marketing its electric vehicles and aims to tap into a more of a tech company vibe.

"There are moments in history when everything changes. Inflection points. We believe such a point is upon us for the mass adoption of electric vehicles," Deborah Wahl, GM's global chief marketing officer, said.

Currently GM has just one electric vehicle on the market, the Chevy Bolt, but more will go on sale soon. The new logo is part of a major EV launch, which begins with the virtual CES show this week.

CEO Mary Barra will give a keynote address, and several GM executives are expected to speak during the show, which has transitioned from an in-person event in Las Vegas to a virtual one.