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Saito-san speech a success at OESA
AHA/AWA President and CEO Mike Saito was a guest speaker Nov. 7, 2011, at the annual, day-long Outlook Conference of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association (OESA) in Detroit. It was his first time addressing an OESA audience, and the impression he made on behalf of Aisin, was especially favorable. The conference title was "Picking Up Speed: Driving Growth and Profitability," and, as president of AHA/AWA, Saito-san was asked to make a 10-minute presentation about his outlook for the global automotive industry over the next 10 years, outlining steps needed to succeed. The speech was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Neil DeKoker, executive director, OESA. Panelists included: Saito-san, Roger Wood, president/CEO, Dana Holdings; John Cory, president/CEO, Stoneridge, Inc.; and Hans-Werner Kaas, managing partner, McKinsey & Co. The audience of approximately 700 people, representing leading Tier One and Tier Two suppliers, responded positively to Saito-san's message, which was delivered with the right blend of sincerity, humility and humor. "AHA is headquartered in Seymour, Indiana… home of many famous people," said Saito-san. "Ok, maybe just two famous people: Me… and John Cougar Mellencamp." In his speech, Saito-san discussed changing markets and new markets, and how these demands drive strategies at Aisin. He also talked about Aisin as a company that embraces technology, outlining operations and achievements at IMRA, ATC-A, and FTTA, and how technology will help reach business goals for Aisin and its customers. "Saito-san provided an excellent overview of how an organization can be successful in an increasingly competitive, global environment," said DeKoker. "His recipe for success was illustrated by examples of how Aisin has organized to address each important element to achieve success. I believe his presentation, thoughts and obvious good chemistry with the audience, were highly valued by conference attendees."
AWA honored for supplier diversity
Aisin World Corp. of America has been named a "Corporate ONE" award winner by the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council (MMSDC) which recognizes supplier diversity programs, and promotes procurement opportunities with minority business owners. The 13th Annual Corporate One Awards program brought over 300 corporations together to recognize Michigan’s leading companies that realize the benefits of supplier diversity in strengthening their company and its bottom line.
“These 50 companies are Michigan’s leading business champions who create opportunities and support local minority businesses to help our local economy grow," said Louis Green, MMSDC president and CEO. "They understand that supplier diversity is the key to innovation that provides their company with a competitive edge. We are pleased to honor them for their outstanding achievements.”
 AWA's Karina Stevens accepted the Corporate ONE award from MMSDC President Louis Green. Criteria for the ‘Corporate ONE’ award includes having an established minority/ diversity supplier development program; reporting minority purchases on a quarterly basis; membership in the MMSDC’s Project ONE, which is an initiative to aid minority businesses in becoming competitive bidders for corporate contracts; and sponsoring the MMPC Trade Fair or other major MMSDC event.
AWA shows well at AAPEX
AWA had another strong showing at the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX), held Nov. 1-3, in Las Vegas. For the 16th consecutive year, AWA exhibited at the annual industry event, bringing its latest aftermarket product offerings, and award-winning sales force AAPEX represents the $395 billion global motor vehicle Aftermarket. More than 106,000 industry professionals from around the world participate, says Bob Clark, AWA director of Aftermarket Sales. "AAPEX is the largest and most important automotive Aftermarket event of the year for us," says Clark. "It provides us with an opportunity to put our best foot forward by showing our products to a large and very important audience," he adds. "Virtually all of our customers, many prospective customers, and decision makers attend AAPEX, and since we are fully staffed to do business on site, we have the time and the resources to meet with everyone for a very productive outcome." Clark says the Aisin exhibit will change next year as Advics products will no longer be exhibited within the Aisin booth. In September, Aisin announced that it will transfer the sales and marketing of its Aftermarket brake products to ADVICS North America. The new arrangement means ADVICS will now independently embark on sales, service and distribution of its Aftermarket brake products effective January 1, 2012.
ADI to manufacture 6-speed transmission for truck market
Turpin says the new six-speed transmission is designed for Class 3, 4 and 5 diesel trucks and that ADI has secured business with Chrysler. Other OE truck manufacturers have expressed interest in ADI's commercial automatic transmissions, he says, and design discussions are underway for potential variants for specific customer applications. “We are excited to add this six-speed automatic transmission to our product group at ADI," says Turpin. "We'll be investing approximately $14 million for new equipment and facility upgrades, and will be adding approximately 40 new jobs in our initial phase of the program.”
Aisin has strong showing at revamped Tokyo Motor Show In recent years, the Tokyo Motor Show (TMS), like many other automotive events around the world, has struggled to maintain the interest of the economically-challenged consumer market, while trying to block the door to prevent the exit of a number of retreating OEM exhibitors. It's been a difficult few years, to say the least. The 2011 edition of the TMS, however, seems back on track. With more exhibitors than ever (the numbers of Asian and European OEMs increased, while North American OEMs stayed home) the show, after 24 years, returned to the Tokyo Big Sight, a sprawling, multi-level convention center on the waterfront of the Tokyo Bay. Nearly 850,000 people visited the show -- a significant increase of 37% compared to the 2009 event -- a true measure of the resilience of Japanese manufacturing and consumer confidence. The event drew some 50 worldwide vehicle premiers, and an extensive display of cutting edge products and life-improving vehicle technology, including the impressive Aisin exhibit. Aisin President Fumio Fujimori spoke at the Aisin Group press conference on Dec. 1, 2011. He told the crowd of more than 250 journalists that six Aisin Group companies joined together to exhibit at TMS, in an effort to provide the best example of products to meet high expectations of society related to safety and environment. "As you know, through the years, the business environment surrounding the automobile industry has been changing much more rapidly than we would have expected," said Fujimori-san. "Today, all over the world, awareness of environmental protection is growing dramatically and the demand for environmentally-friendly cars like hybrid cars and electric vehicles is rapidly increasing."  
He added that in consideration of this situation, AISIN seeks to realize a sustainable society through the development of technologies and products that contribute to the protection of the environment by developing the next generation of products as the core of future environmentally-friendly automobiles. "Especially in the development of products related to drive trains, Aisin recognizes that this is an area it should lead," said Fujimori-san. "Based on this concept, Aisin promptly made efforts to commercialize an environmentally-friendly hybrid transmission with built-in electric motor. The models and types of automobiles having this transmission are spreading as the technology receives high evaluations." The Aisin exhibit displayed the Commercial Hybrid AT System for the first time. "This is a driving system with additional hybrid features that adds a motor generator and a clutch that augments energy regeneration to an existing commercial 6-speed AT, added Fujimori-san. "This system greatly contributes to good mileage for commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses." 
Following the press conference, Fujimori-san spent the next two hours in interviews with journalists from Automotive News and Ward's Auto World (which were arranged and coordinated by AWA External Affairs).
NA Car & Truck of Year finalists announced -- good news for Aisin Fifty auto journalists have selected the Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and Volkswagen Passat as the three finalists for the 2012 North American Car of the Year. Meanwhile, finalists for the 2012 North American Truck of the Year are the BMW X3, Honda CR-V, and, to the delight of Aisin team members everywhere, the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, equipped with an Aisin six-speed transmission.  Equipped with an Aisin six-speed transmission, Land Rover Range Rover Evoque may be the North American Truck of the Year. John Koenig, AWA executive vice president of External Affairs, said final award presentations in the car and truck categories will be made at the North American International Auto Show, Monday, January 9, when the show opens for Press Preview. "The NACTOY awards are well respected in the industry, and traditionally kick off the Detroit show," says Koenig. "It really fires up the journalists, and is usually among the first batch of major news to come out of Cobo Center. This year it's even more exciting for us to know that an Aisin transmission is featured on one of the vehicle finalists." According to auto reviewer and journalist, Anthony Crawford, "The Aisin six-speed auto mated to this powertrain is pure genius. Paddle shifting up and down the ratio range, the shifts are more like a dual-clutch transmission that any automatic I’ve ever driven." NACTOY awards are unique in the United States because, instead of being driven by a single media outlet, they are awarded by a coalition of automotive journalists from the US and Canada representing magazines, TV, radio, newspapers, and Internet publications. The awards are financed by the NACTOY jurors' dues -- the organization does not accept advertising from automakers. To be eligible a vehicle must be all new or substantially changed. Last year, the 2011 awards went to the Chevrolet Volt and Ford Explorer.
AWA-LA wins Platinum Supplier Award  AWA-LA's Bob Clark (far left) celebrates with other Platinum Award winners As many of AWA team members will recall, AWA Los Angeles won a Gold Supplier Award in 2010 from Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) for an outstanding overall level of service, integrity, quality and relationships in October of 2010. Quite an achievement, indeed. Recently, reports AWA-LA's Bob Clark, the 2011 Toyota Supplier Conference was held, and this time, AWA was awarded the Platinum Supplier Award for 2011. "To have earned the highest supplier honor from our single largest customer is a truly remarkable achievement for our office," says Clark. "I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank each one of you for your individual contribution to a great team effort." To underscore the level of this accomplishment, consider that:
AWA earned a 100% Toyota Quality Alliance Score (102 suppliers are rated and the average score was 91% for all suppliers). Clark adds that it is also important to mention that AWTEC won a Gold Award for the 4th consecutive year. "This level of consistent performance is an impressive record and we are very happy to be associated with such a quality and service minded partner," adds Clark.
NAIAS ready to shine The North American International Auto Show is less than one month away, and already the discourse is widespread in and around Detroit, and across the media. Last week, show organizers released the long-awaited press conference schedule, featuring 35 OEM events used to unveil an anticipated 40+ worldwide and North American vehicles. “This is an amazing line-up of press events and announcements that will absolutely rock the automotive industry,” said Bill Perkins, chairman, NAIAS 2012. “We have listened to the feedback from journalists all over the world, as well as our manufacturer partners and the Tier One suppliers that sponsor the NAIAS, and have returned to a two-day schedule packed with vehicle introductions on both days. This show will educate, entertain and astonish." 
The two-day press schedule was made possible largely because of commitments from Chrysler, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Toyota, and Honda, all of which stepped-up to make press announcements and worldwide reveals on both Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 9 and 10, 2012. To view the official press conference schedule, visit naias.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=27789 NAIAS Industry Preview Days will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 11 and 12. Tickets for Industry Preview, a favorite for some 20,000 auto industry employees who attend each year, can be purchased for $80 each by calling NAIAS at 248.643.0250. Meanwhile, ticket sales for the annual black tie Charity Preview are up 20 percent year-to-date. Show organizers expect to reach ticket sales of at least 12,000 for the largest single-night fundraiser in North America. Since 1976 the NAIAS Charity Preview has raised over $84 million for southeast Michigan children's charities -- more than $33 million of which was raised in the last seven years alone. Tickets are $250 ($240 of which is tax deductible) and can be purchased at charitypreview.com. And, finally, the NAIAS Public Show… a perfect time to review new 2012-2013 model vehicles, and appreciate the best the industry has to offer. With more than 500 new cars and trucks displayed, families can “shop” in a no-pressure, yet stimulating, entertaining and educational environment. Auto shows are more educational than ever and provide a unique insight into the future direction of the automotive industry. The NAIAS is open to the public Jan. 14-22, 2012. More information: www.naias.com.
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