More than 100 executives, managers and engineers representing companies in the automotive sector celebrated 30 years of PMA’s Automotive Parts Suppliers Conference (APSC) in Greenville, SC, on October 26-27, 2023! Attendees enjoyed keynote presentations, networking opportunities and even some racing at the BMW Performance Center. 

The conference started off with Jeff Schuster, group head and executive vice president, automotive for GlobalData,  providing attendees with sales data, forecasting and more to give them an idea of what to expect in 2024. 

After Jeff, EVs took center stage. Mario Greco and Nando Tedeschi from Novelis discussed aluminum roll forming for body structure, while Tom Alongi and Dan Bruce from UHY LLP provided EV strategies for metalformers to stay ahead of the competitors. 

Following the EV presentations, Steve Horaney from MEMA moderated a discussion with Adam Briggs (Trans-Matic Mfg. Co., Inc.) and Donna Kuhr (PTM Corporation) on the automotive supply chain. Then, Kellie Lindsay of Autotech Ventures finished off the day’s presentations talking about how external innovation and ventures are affecting the adoption of new technologies in the automotive industry. 

 

The first day concluded with a networking reception with all attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and speakers. 

 

Day two started with Dan Sharkey, PMA’s favorite lawyer, covering everything legal: contracts, tariffs, strikes, recalls, NDAs and more. PMA President David Klotz moderated the session and presented questions from the attendees to Dan. 

The conference’s final presentation was delivered by Alex Chapman, Ridge Creek Global. Alex discussed how the current energy transition is affecting metalformers and shared strategies to stay ahead of the curve and not get left behind. 

After the conference concluded, some attendees headed over to the BMW Performance Center to take part in friendly racing. Attendees got to race against each other to see who was the fastest around BMW’s test track! 

 

Make sure to mark September 11-12, 2024 on your calendars for APSC 2024 in Pontiac, MI!