GET IT ONLINE ® ® ACCESS YOUR NEWSPAPER Detroit AutoScene DURING THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK DetroitAutoScene.com ® –Online (use either address) TechCenter News TechCenterNews.com LOOK FOR US IN PRINT VOL. 88 NO. 11 We Put a Face on the American Auto Industry MARCH 23, 2020 AS SOON AS POSSIBLE Huge Social Media Initiative Begun by Detroit Auto Scene The current COVID-19 crisis is changing the way a lot of business- es are operating, and Detroit Auto Scene is no exception. To better serve our readers, we are taking a deep dive into social media in order to get our content out. “Our Instagram and Facebook presence will enable our readers to better interact with the newspaper,” said Harley Nunley, the person in charge of social media at Detroit Auto Scene. “The paper can also be accessed by going to our Web site at http://detroitautoscene.com,” Nunley said. “This will open up the lines of communications.” Nunley added. “People can ask us questions and they can even post information on our Facebook page and even instant message me, and can comment on the pictures on our Instagram account.” Nunley said that accessing the pages should be easy. Simply go to Facebook or Instagram and type in “Detroit Auto Scene.” “Our new Facebook page is a business page,” Nunley said. “People shouldn’t confuse it with a personal page that is also under ‘Detroit Auto Scene.’ I would also like to say that these efforts are a work in progress and that we would really appreciate any feedback from The normally-packed parking lot at FCA’s Sterling Stamping plant was empty after FCA, like GM and Ford, shut readers on how we can build our social media efforts.” down production at all the company’s manufacturing facilities in North America. Detroit Auto Scene publisher William Springer II said that the news- paper is committed to this effort and that it will usher in a whole new era for the nation’s oldest free newspaper. “We are grateful to our loyal readers, advertisers our heritage and Virus Shuts Down Detroit 3 followers at Detroit Auto Scene - Tech Center News,” Springer said. “The newspaper will remain in print. If you are in the readership by Jim Stickford nies and the union to protect house employees at all three area of our print edition, pick up a copy of Detroit Auto Scene. workers and the public from companies. Detroit Auto Scene began in 1933 as New Center News in Detroit’s In a rapidly-changing environ- COVID-19, also known as the “Workplace health and safety uptown business district. Tech Center News” commenced in 1976. ment, Detroit automakers and Coronavirus. is a priority for us every day, all the UAW agreed to close down On Sunday,March 15, FCA, three companies have been tak- production of all facilities in Ford and General Motors issued ing steps to keep the COVID- North America – the United a joint statement declaring that 19/coronavirus out of their facili- GM and Ford Offer Expertise States, Canada and Mexico – on they had formed a COVID- ties and during this national March 18. 19/Coronavirus Task Force to im- emergency, we will do even more This decision was the latest in plement enhanced protections To Make Medical Ventilators a series of moves by the compa- for manufacturing and ware- The COVID-19 outbreak may chanical Heart, built by GM Re- CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 have shut down vehicle produc- search Laboratories in the public tion in North America, but it also interest and funded in part by has Ford and General Motors re- the American Heart Association. turning to their medical roots. Measuring 10 by 12 by 17 inches, Several media outlets have re- the invention looked similar to a ported that GM and Ford are in 12-cylinder engine with six sepa- talks with the White House on rate chambers. how they can help during this medical emergency. In an email to the Detroit Auto “As America’s Scene on March 19, GM spokesman Dan Flores wrote largest producer that GM’s “engineering and man- ufacturing expertise could help of vehicles with this issue, but no decisions and top employer have been made and we have nothing to announce.” of autoworkers, CNN received a statement Ford stands ready from Ford on March 18, declaring “As America’s largest producer to help the of vehicles and top employer of administration autoworkers, Ford stands ready to help the administration in any in any way way we can, including the possi- we can . .” bility of producing ventilators and other equipment. We have – Ford Motor had preliminary discussions with the U.S. government and are Company looking into the feasibility.” The is not the first time GM Gaylor points at a computer screen to show Estes where quality may be gained in the design of FCA cabins. have become involved in the de- Made of stainless steel, glass velopment of medical equip- and rubber, the mechanical heart ment. used air pressure and vacuum The GM Heritage Center noted pumps to circulate blood from FCA Employee Hard Judge of Cabin Quality in online its history of the com- the chambers through the pa- When Victor Gaylor walks into America. “Every day, we are “I am probably more critical pany that GM has made signifi- tient's body while open heart an assembly plant, he is judge striving to deliver a superior than anyone,” Gaylor says. “I like cant contributions to society ex- surgery was being performed. and jury. ownership experience for our a quiet cabin and I think our cus- tending far beyond the automo- In the fall of 1952 the heart He looks and listens and, if he customers.” tomers deserve a quiet cabin.” bile industry. One of these im- pump was first used successfully finds evidence linking a vehicle Gaylor, who has been with the But his project didn’t end with portant contributions was the during a surgery performed on a component to a customer con- company since 1998, is one of the product, Mayne said. A col- development of the first mechan- 41-year-old man. The operation cern, he holds court, said FCA two FCA employees to take home league “decided I could take it a ical heart pump in 1952. lasted 80 minutes and the me- spokesman Eric Mayne. an RT5 Leadership Award from step further,” he adds. Dr. Forest Dodrill, a surgeon at chanical heart was used for 50 “We put it on trial to see if it’s Shainin, a global engineering That colleague was Jud Estes, Wayne State University’s Harper minutes to keep the patient alive guilty,” says the veteran FCA service company specializing in a quality engineer and “Master Hospital in Detroit, believed that while his heart was repaired. quality auditor. root-cause investigation and pro- Black Belt Instructor” – the high- a machine could be developed to “We’ve come a long way since This no-nonsense, product im- fessional development. est of four certifications awarded temporarily replace the human that first heart operation by Do- provement approach recently He earned the prize by spear- through the industry-standard heart's blood-pumping function drill in 1952. Now, it’s estimated won FCA a docket full of favor- heading a project that reduced Six Sigma quality improvement and make open heart surgery that worldwide more than one able verdicts from a pair of third- cabin noise by 24 percent in the process. possible. Dr. Dodrill and his med- million open heart operations party quality watchers, Mayne popular Dodge Durango SUV and Estes challenged Gaylor not ical team called on a group of sci- are done using some form of said. in its legendary line-mate from only with reducing cabin noise, entists and engineers at the GM heart-lung machine each year,” “We’re not holding anything FCA’s Jefferson North Assembly but with training his team mem- Research Laboratories for help. said Dr. Larry Stephenson, back,” says Mark Champine, Plant, the award-winning Jeep That unique collaboration re- head of Quality, FCA – North Grand Cherokee. sulted in the Dodrill-GMR Me- CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 view this week’s edition at DetroitAutoScene.com PAGE 2 DETROITAUTOSCENE-TECHCENTERNEWS MARCH 23, 2020 Trailer Maker Ford Celebrates the Math Needed for its AV Technology Goes to Cloud Creating the autonomous car of the future will require the power For Business of math. And Ford recognizes that Infor, a global provider of busi- fact. In fact you could say that de- ness cloud software said Dutch veloping AVs is as easy as Pi. trailer manufacturer Broshuis John Rich, chief operating offi- has gone live with Infor LN and cer, Ford Autonomous Vehicles other production solutions from LLC, wrote an article celebrating Infor to better respond to the that fact. needs of its customers and to “While Pi Day may seem like a support its new strategy. In the made-up holiday, March 14–3.14 past, Broshuis mainly supplied – actually provides us with an op- tailor-made trailers and worked portunity to recognize the impor- according to the engineer-to- tant role mathematics plays in order principle. The company is just about everything we do or now working according to the interact with on a daily basis. For configure-to-order method to me, Pi Day also serves as an op- create a better connection with portunity to appreciate the peo- its e-commerce activities. ple who helped me understand After using Infor VISUAL enter- and get excited about numbers prise resource planning (ERP) and formulas,” Rich wrote.