6-98 New Steel Roundtable: Breakthrough in... -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 7/15/2002
Last Visited: 7/15/2002
Mark Casey, Ford Motor Co.
...
At the roundtable were Mark Casey, purchasing manager, steel and aluminum, Ford Motor Co.; Ronald Schuster, director of steel purchasing, North American Operations, General Motors Corp.; Andrew Mahut, automotive specialist, Stelco; Jay Montgomery, manager, product applications, U.S. Steel; Fritz Reis, manager, automotive-development group, LTV Steel; and Ed Opbroek, program director, Ulsab.
...
Casey: Steel has been, is, and probably will maintain a strong position.The current cost of some heat-treatable, outer-skin-panel aluminum alloys is quite expensive.We are challenging both the steel and aluminum industries, and steel's coming up a winner.We have a number of parts that are going to revert back to steel.I have a couple of key parts in mind that will save Ford a lot of money.
I haven't seen too many plastic parts go on.
...
Casey: Hood outer panels and deck lids.
New Steel: Are we talking about the 2000-model year?
Casey: Around 2000.Right around the corner.
...
Casey: Steel is 30-35 cents a pound, and aluminum is $1.50 a pound.
...
Casey: A benefit to manufacturing [the Ulsab body-in-white] is that it's not high-tech.You don't need a lot of new equipment.It uses existing technologies.It's not 2001: A Space Odyssey stuff.
Ford engineers are much more attentive to what steel-industry engineers can do for us.Why did we have so many aluminum panels on vehicles?
...
Casey: If you reduce the weight by 25 percent, you've reduced the costs, theoretically, by 25 percent.But if the material costs 25 percent more, then you have a wash.If you're going to take 25 percent of the weight out, there should be a slightly better cost ratio.
...
Casey: I did not say I was willing to pay a premium. [Laughter.]
We need to have more suppliers qualified on ultra-high-strength steels.We have people who produce it, but not very many.I can count on one hand the people around the world who can consistently produce ultra-high-strength steels.So that's the challenge that I would throw back out.We're going to put that stretch to technology out there, so that when an automotive company is ready to use it, you will be there.I know it's got to be on your drawing board.
...
Casey: Between 300-500 pounds on a car and maybe 700-900 pounds on a truck.When you have these "gas guzzlers" out there, people like them, but [others don't because of environmental concerns].A significant amount will be steel, and there's a significant amount of work to do.Whether it's steel in a seat frame, a wheel, the body, the engine, or in the suspension, the steel industry has a lot of opportunities.
...
New Steel: Mark [Casey] and Ron [Schuster], are your companies giving any thought to just taking Ulsab and developing a car around it?
...
Casey: We don't have the manufacturability yet for all the ultra-high strengths, but that's where we want to go.Two, three, four, or five years from now, you're going to have 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 percent of the Ulsab be there.It's going to be a step-by-step process.We're not all Ph.D.s producing 200,000 Ulsab vehicles at a pop.But the door has been opened from both sides.The tools are there.The interest is there.
...
Casey: We haven't seen too many aluminum anchors. [Laughter.]
New Steel: Ulsab contains tailor-welded blanks and hydroformed parts. What's the status of each of those processes at Ford and GM?
...
Casey: Tailor-made blanks, whether laser or mesh, have terrific applications in all parts of the vehicle, whether small, medium, or large.Hydroforming is terrific for design and lightweighting.We are not as far ahead [as GM] on a number of parts.You'll see a significant acceleration in the next generation.
New Steel: Is there a problem with tailor-welded blanks costing more coming in?The price is higher, but it saves costs in the stamping area.
...
Casey: The other side of town [GM] had a different perspective.They saw what we didn't see.And we [now] see what we should have seen.You'll see a terrific advancement in our area.
New Steel: Is Ford is looking at the overall costs now, rather than the incoming price?
...
Casey: Competitiveness, environmental reasons, lightweight vehicles, and globalization.You put those factors together and instead of [steelmakers] pushing it through the system, there is a strong pull [from automakers] today.You just mention the name now, and they say, "show me, show me." Whereas before it was: "Tailor who?Where does he live?"Technology is key to competitiveness.We all know that it's not getting any easier.Technology is gaining much more momentum.
...
Casey: In 1995, we threw out a challenge we thought was almost unreachable: Get to [reject rates of] 300 parts per million by 1999.In 1995, we were over 3,200 parts per million as a steel-industry average.In 1997, we saw tremendous improvement.We're around 400 parts per million.One supplier shipped 80,000 to 85,000 tons [and for] 12 months running, had zero ppm.Another supplier, who had over 230,000 tons of business, had 40-50 parts per million.It's tremendous what they've done.
...
Casey: Our standards are the same.If you have over 20 tons [of defective steel], either cumulative or all in one shot, you have 48 hours or less to have the initial report.You're given one or two more days to have fundamentally the final report.
You have a quality issue?You better have a SWAT team, and you'd better move fast.Because we are producing more and more parts, and we have only one supplier per part.
...
Casey: We have better forecasting data that we give our suppliers.This past October, we pulled two or three weeks out of the lead time.Next year, we're going to pull two-four more weeks out of the lead time.We cut our inventory in half.
We can get 100 tons of minimill material in a week or week and a half.Don't tell me it takes 12 weeks all the time.
...
Casey: We've gone from an eight-hour [delivery] window to a one-hour window.We're not going to be able to store a lot.So [steelmakers] have to produce and ship.They can't produce and store and ship.They have to produce and ship or store a little and then ship.We're basically taking inventory out of the cycle.
...
Casey: Usually, the steel mills are very good at producing steel.They're not as good at logistics.When we want 30, 40, 60 tons of steel, and we want it in an hour, they're not going to ship it from Gary [Ind.].It has to be right next door or close by.Those trucks have to be sequenced to hit exactly what I'm going to blank.That coil has to be within 100 pounds of how many parts are going to come off that line.If you have a coil that produces 50 fewer parts, it's going to cost me 500 bucks to put another coil up there.So you have the right weight, the right coil, at the right place, at the right time.
...
Casey: There's no such thing as a foreign steel company.It's an oxymoron.We have a strategic plan that is global, based upon performance for quality, delivery, manufacturing, engineering, and cost.
It's harder shipping steel around the world, but we have done it.We've exported steel from North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, South America-all around the world.As a result, we've had tremendous cooperation from the steel mills around the world.You have to have the right blend, the right supply base.
...
Casey: We have no problem with consolidation of the steel industry.We've had a strategy for a number of years for supply-base consolidation.We believe in a relationship that's co-dependent.We don't have any problem being co-dependent on a supplier just as they're dependent upon us.But bigger doesn't mean better.
New Steel: Do Ford and GM envision minimills doing more business with you? If so, in what areas?
...
Casey: In 1997, we bought 7,000-8,000 tons a month [from minimills].We'll be up to 25,000 tons a month in the next year or two.It fits our needs.It fits integrated steel's needs.They're migrating to a different product base.They want to vertically integrate into the cold-reduced coated lines.They see the value-added there.
...
Casey: Keith and the others know the market very, very well.
...
Casey: We've been happy with what the steel mills have done over the past nine months.We've worked closer than ever before.They've done an outstanding job.We're going to continue to work with them and find a way to recognize and reward them.
They're helping us in terms of lightweight, in terms of cost reductions and cost avoidance.It's a good relationship, and it's getting better.We're coming along fast-finally.
5 online sources [ view sources ]
Profile is not claimed [ this is me ]
