Kickstart: A return to in-house auto parts production?

There's something a bit interesting in this Q&A that one of our sister magazines had with the head of auto supplier Faurecia.

Most of the discussion between Klaus-Dieter Floerecke of Automobilwoche and Patrick Koller focuses on fuel cells and the hydrogen economy. But then a new topic comes up:

"Q: Ford wants to bring the door production for the Fiesta model back into the company. This could eliminate 400 jobs at your Cologne plant. What's the next step in Cologne?"
"Koller: Together with Ford, we want to see what partial integration of door production might look like. We have also agreed with our customer that we will take our time to find a solution. Ford will not make a final decision on how to proceed with door production until January 2021."

It's been a long time since Ford made interior parts in-house, since before it sold off its parts operations, first by spinning off Visteon Corp. nearly 20 years ago, then through the individual sales of plants that were part of Automotive Components Holdings. Faurecia actually operates one of those former Ford interior parts plants, a 1.6 million-square-foot site in Saline, Mich.

A few automakers, such as Toyota and Honda, do some in-house interior parts, but those are the exception. So the idea of Ford doing even partial integration sounds intriguing, and something I'll be keeping an eye on.

Injection molder and toolmaker MGS Manufacturing Group Inc.'s decision in 2019 to add production for its medical molding operations turned out to be perfect timing for a global pandemic.

But CEO Paul Manley has repeatedly stressed that the Germantown, Wis.-based company has been able to grow thanks to its vertical integration, not just timing.

"The combination of our integrated manufacturing solutions and extensive health care manufacturing experience gave our team the ability to quickly step up in the fight against COVID-19," Manley said.

In addition to tooling and molding, MGS also creates automation cells and auxiliary equipment for production. All of that came into play as the company boosted production "thirtyfold" for plastic components used in COVID-19 test kits.

MGS has now received recognition as being among Deloitte LLP's list of Wisconsin's 75 largest private companies, coming in at No. 58.

Knowledge is very valuable, and if you didn't already know that then the whopping $44 billion that S&P Global is spending in a merger to take over IHS Markit is a reminder.

For the plastics industry, IHS has been a steady source of data about the chemical and energy markets, helping buyers and sellers of resin follow pricing and supply trends. Its annual Global Plastics Summit is an industry mainstay.

"This transaction is a win for both IHS Markit and S&P Global as we leverage our respective strengths in information, data science, research and benchmarks," IHS Chairman and CEO Lance Uggla said in a news release. "Our highly complementary products will deliver a broader set of offerings across multiple verticals for the benefit of our customers, employees and shareholders."