Addressing Changes in new materials, new technologies, and the looming crisis in tooling and workforce. Two days of critical content and networking.

The T3 Manufacturing Summit will raise awareness and facilitate information exchange about the U.S. tooling crisis and demographic shifts in the workforce which present challenges for manufacturers and suppliers. Global manufacturing footprints and new business models have challenged the paradigm of, “produce it where you sell it,” leading to a declining source of local talent. Rapidly evolving changes in materials and manufacturing technologies are straining and may be constraining manufacturing and investment. These changes present significant challenges such as workforce and capacity utilization that present opportunities for manufacturer and tool shops.  

Sessions Include:

• Challenges Ahead of Us | New Materials & New Tools
• Advancements in Technology
• Tooling Business Models
• Where is the Talent?

CAR will engage automakers, suppliers, policymakers, educators and workforce development, and other industry stakeholders in a summit designed to address these challenges and to find ways to collaboratively pave the way to a successful future for U.S. advanced manufacturing.

Technology:

• See how rapid advancements in lightweight technology are changing the nature of conventional tooling, fabrication and joining methods.

• Learn how technologies, such as digital engineering, 3-D printing and advanced automation enable lean production, and how they are being used in today’s hyper-efficient manufacturing plants.

• Discover strategies that could be gained through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) that enhances performance through the use of machine sensors, machine-to-machine communication and network communication with advanced analytics to create a “smart” total-system environment.

Tooling:

• Learn about advancements being made with performance modeling, low-cost tooling, new forming technologies, and bonded structures that are replacing traditional spot welded steel assemblies.

• Gain insight into how automakers are seeking partnerships from suppliers that are well-positioned with technology and competitive business practices that support this evolution to more advanced vehicles. 

Talent:

• Hear CAR present the findings of a study funded by the Arconic Foundation that identified critical skill sets needed by manufacturers. 

• See examples of successful talent programs and possible solutions to the talent shortage that is needed to sustain advanced manufacturing.

Confirmed Speakers:

• Terry Henning – Manager, Ford Dearborn Tool & Die
• Walter J. (Wally) Palen - Assistant General Manager, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc.
• Jerry Trusty - Director, Global Die and Body Center, General Motors
• Alan Whitted - Global Head of Press Shops & Dies and President, Autodie, Inc., FCA US
• Dr. Susan Helper – Carlton Professor of Economics, Case Western University – former Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Commerce
• Birgit M. Klohs - President & CEO, The Right Place
• Don Goeman - Executive Vice President of Research, Design and Development, Herman Miller 

UPDATE other key OEM speakers including:

• Dan Clarkson - General Motors
• Julia A. Hawley - FCA - North America
• Tim Marasco - Ford Motor Company 

Event Details

• Date: Monday, April 24 and Tuesday, April 25, 2017 
• Location: DeVos Place
•                303 Monroe Ave NW,
•                Grand Rapids, MI 49503