As a rule of thumb, automotive manufacturers contract out any stamped part needed in volumes below 200,000 pieces annually.
In 1999, the largest of the independent stamping firms was Minneapolis-based Tower Automotive, Inc.
the manufacturers began to involve specific suppliers early on in the design stage and to require them to provide much of the engineering expertise
Instead of the standard 0.040-inch-thick carbon steel the industry had been using, manufacturers began specifying Zincrometal, one-sided and two-sided galvanized and coated alloy-steels
This category includes companies that manufacture automotive trimmings, apparel findings, and related products, and those that specialize in printing and stamping on garments and apparel accessories
American plants typically wasted twice as much material, used more press operations, and ran presses at half the speed of foreign plants with production runs five times as long
expertise of industry production workers is increasing rapidly as the industry adapts to new production techniques and strategies, the challenges of new metal alloys, and the competition of plastic alternatives.
Typical components include fenders, roofs, floor pans, exhaust systems, brake shoes, and trim pieces
human operators are used only to load raw steel into the plant and to remove the finished product at the end of the production line
The industry was worth $16 billion in 1987. That figure changed to $20.6 billion in 1995, a net decrease in value after inflation over the nine-year period. In 2000, the industry's value totaled $24 billion
the number of unskilled operators continues to decline. In their place, skilled tradesmen and craft-workers design and maintain the complicated production machinery and its robot servers.
the industry began to standardize the die heights and improve the die designs and body panel designs so as to reduce the number of strokes needed to complete the forming process and reduce the amount of scrap steel
They made the new presses more accurate, faster, and easier to set up, allowing the industry to begin manufacturing anew range of products including mufflers, oil filler caps, some gears, engine mounts