But more importantly...the past days I have been assisting with the 2009 Southeastern Automotive Forum. I have been helping my wonderfully involved graduate professor, Nancy Powell, as we prepared to host the conference at the College of Textiles. The event, held today from 8:00-1:00 was a HUGE success with the largest turnout yet of over 200 participants!
The day started with a Introduction and Welcome by Nancy Powell, Dr. Terri Helmlinger Ratcliff (the Executive Director of NC State IES), and Morgan Blue (of UL-DQS). Terri's welcome gave the conference an optimistic start. She gave us hope as she compared a 1875 Wisconsin state legislation to develop a feasible and economical substitute for the horse. A patent given in 1899 (almost 20 years later) took the award of $10,000...a figure that relates to around $200 million in today's economy. But in 1903, as we all know, Ford pushed this product aside and said 'I can do better'...and he did. The point of the story is that things can always be done differently and better. The grandchild to this competition: Progressive Auto's X-Prize. The goal: Revolution through Competition. Partnered with the US Department of Energy and Discovery Education, the X Prize Foundation is offering $10 million for creating the most energy-efficient solution to automotive transportation.
The keynote address, given by Todd Taylor continued this positive vive and reported on automotive efficiency and sustainability of the industry in today's economic environment. Todd, of Honda North America, spoke on "Strengthening Characteristics and Efficiency During the Weakened Economy". Honda's philosophy since 1960 is inspiring to say the least: A company that Society wants to exist.
We then hosted 4 breakout sessions:
Simon Cobb, Chief Operating Officer of NCCAR spoke on "Disruptive Times Offer Big Opportunities in Automotive Industry".
Jerry Skaggs, PE's topic was "Putting Leadership in Energy Through the Draft ISO 50001 Energy Management Standard".
Dr. Mike Seibert, Assistant State Director and Director of Export Financing Services, SBTDC, hosted a session about "Business Success in Tough Economic Times"
and Phil Mintz, Manager of Continuous Improvement Services and NC State's IES, spoke about "Continuous Improvement for the Green Organization"
As you can see from these topics, the theme for the Forum, "Sustainability in our Changing Environment", was clearly using sustainability to its original meaning rather just in the trendy environmental way. The goal is to learn how to sustain not only the environment, but also the companies, the automotive industry, and supporting industries.
We the continued with Dr. Fred Gallasch speaking on "How Suppliers Can Sell Their Wares While Protecting Themselves from the Uncertainties of Dealing with the OEM's". Fred is the President of Gallasch Consulting Services, LLC, and is the Past Brand Manager for General Motors Corvette.
The day wrapped up with a panel discussion hosted by Simon Cobb, Rich Cregar, Jerry Skaggs, Mike Hensen, and Todd Taylor.
The Southeastern Automotive Forum was hosted by UL DQS Inc (Management Systems Solutions), The Industrial Extension Service at NC State (IES), NC Center for Automotive Research (NCCAR), the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), and the NC State College of Textiles. Please be sure to check out the links to these great organizations and see what is really going on in the North Carolina Automotive Industry (and the world).
And 1 more, very positive personal note for the day. Crystal Avalos and I were publicly recognized by Stephanie Rodgers of ATS for our First Place entries in the Automotive Design Competition....which led to some very interested potential employers!
