Lessons from the pandemic are helping business leaders face current challenges in the global automotive supply chain.
On Feb. 25, Automotive Day of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week, CEOs and business leaders will share what keeps them up at night. And what makes them scurry during the workday. Overcoming halted production last spring and investing in keeping workers protected from COVID-19 infection is a shared experience.
Guests include Mark Duchesne, head of global manufacturing at startup Nikola Corp. Duchesne worked in manufacturing at Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and Tesla Inc., (NASDAQ: TSLA). They are polar opposites in manufacturing principles.
Duchesne joined the heavy-duty electric truck maker in 2020. He is trying to bring the best of his experiences to the daunting task of modularly building a $600 million plant in the Arizona desert. And he is overseeing the import of painted truck bodies from Germany.
Richard Simons, general manager of Aftermarket parts for Daimler Truck North America, oversees a growing physical footprint for truck parts in the U.S. and Canada. He is also helping North America’s leading commercial vehicle maker use the internet for and online parts ordering. The goal is shrinking the time needed to fix trucks and improve uptime.
Battery-powered electric trucks are becoming more popular with fleet managers focused on total cost of ownership. Battery pack makers like startup Romeo Power Inc. (NYSE: RMO) strive to increase how much energy the batteries hold while shortening the time needed to recharge plug-in trucks.
Romeo CEO Lionel Selwood says his company is at the nexus of electrification and hasn’t ruled out making its own battery cells.
Scaling fuel cells
Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are the other electric vehicle technology gaining popularity — and financial backers. Craig Knight, the CEO of Hyzon Motors, took over the former General Motors fuel cell headquarters near Rochester, New York, last July.
Now the spinoff of Singapore’s Fuel Cell Technologies business is looking forward to completing a reverse merger through blank check company Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: DCRB) that could bring in $570 million to scale the business in the U.S. and grow its European presence.
Knight is a big believer in partnerships to help shield against supply chain disruptions.
Sam Abuelsamid has worked as an engineer and an automotive analyst. The divergent careers have led him to a unique understanding of how the automotive industry ticks as principal analyst for Guidehouse Insights.
Tune in on Feb. 25 as these experts unpack their specific pieces of the automotive landscape and talk about where they are succeeding and what challenges remain.
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