Kickstart: What are the 'things that we don't need to do'?

As the auto industry scrambles to recover from the coronavirus shutdown, automakers are looking to cut costs. That's not a surprise. General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra said during an investor event with Credit Suisse that GM's decisions now could lead to permanent changes.

Those changes could mean fewer vehicle platforms or fewer options on trim levels to focus on what consumers want. The pandemic, Barra said, has given GM the chance to go through all line item expenses and eliminate redundant processes.

"We've found things that we don't need to do and things we can do more efficiently," Barra said.

What does that mean to plastics suppliers? If there are fewer options, automakers may be eyeing higher-volume production for a smaller number of trim levels. That may make it harder for plastics suppliers to compete against metal stamping since injection molding has a stronger financial standing at lower-volume numbers.

Fewer trim levels also may mean a reduced need for injection molding tools.

Of course decisions on future products likely won't be seen for months or years. For now, Barra noted, the industry's focus is on ramping back up to production for today while also keeping an eye on suppliers' ability to continue operations.

While I'm on the subject of the auto industry, I wonder how many people in the plastics industry are aware that a few automakers still operate in-house injection molding? Several years ago I had a chance to visit Honda's East Liberty, Ohio, plant as it rolled out a redesigned Civic.

Honda's plastics engineers were happy to explain exactly how they'd adapted production to ensure the larger instrument panel met customer expectations. Honda, like just a few other global automakers, has in-house molding for major parts such as IPs and bumper fascia, so it can control the quality of the biggest plastic parts car buyers see.

"We understand the importance of this,'' a Honda engineer said at the time. "This is one way that we do things, the way we can look at something during planning and design for it.''

And during the COVID-19 pandemic, Honda has turned again to its own experts who understand the "importance" of plastics production to convert its presses to make face shields at a rate of 3,000 per hour.

"It was a comprehensive effort with our Honda design and manufacturing teams working together to quickly solve this challenge," said Eric Walli, regional planning leader of Honda North America, in a news release.

Sure, robots do many, many important things in manufacturing. They're vital in everything from moving large finished parts, trimming flashing and dealing with many of the potentially dangerous or repetitive tasks that could put humans at risk for injuries.

They also, I'm delighted to note, tie a really nice bow on a box of candy.

Catherine Kavanaugh writes that Brown Machine Group recently purchased the assets of robot maker Axatronics.

While Axatronics brings many new product offerings to the table, the company also, Catherine noted, "gained national attention when Axatronics won an innovation award from Yaskawa Motoman in 2014 for creating the first robot capable of tying a ribbon bow around a boxed product."

Why, you may ask, would you create a robot to tie ribbons? Because that's what a customer needed.

Local candy maker Esther Price needed an automated bow-tying system to alleviate workers' reptitive fatigue injuries.

As a bad gift-wrapper, I find footage of this amazing bit of engineering, linked here, fascinating to watch.