Autocam Teams With GVSU To Grow Engineers

Autocam To Provide Full-Tuition Engineering Scholarships At GVSU

Scholarships aimed at attracting top-notch talent to West Michigan

KENTWOOD, Mich., Aug. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Autocam Corp., a leading precision manufacturer for both the automotive and medical industries, announced today it will offer three full-tuition scholarships at Grand Valley State University's engineering school.

Autocam, whose global headquarters is in Kentwood, Mich., is a worldwide manufacturer of precision-machine components for all major OEMs and Tier 1 automotive suppliers. Autocam specializes in high precision components for emerging fuel system technologies, including gasoline- and diesel-injection, alternative fuels, cylinder de-activation, and other technologies critical for mandated fuel economy improvements. The company has 14 manufacturing facilities and employs more than 1,500 highly skilled employees in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit www.autocam.com.

The new Autocam Engineering Scholarship, founded by Autocam President and Grand Valley Board of Trustees member John C. Kennedy, is aimed at attracting top-notch engineering and mathematics students to the West Michigan area, where there is significant need for these skills among local industries.

"Our need for exceptional engineers, coupled with Grand Valley's excellent engineering program, is the reason we want to provide these full-tuition scholarships," Kennedy said, adding that the scholarships will be awarded to two sophomores and one freshman for the 2012-2013 school year.

In the global automotive industry, the demand for precision manufacturing continues to increase, primarily driven by the need for better fuel economy. Autocam plays a critical role in the market for advanced fuel systems, particularly in innovative fueling systems that will dramatically reduce vehicle fuel use.

"Autocam is experiencing rapid growth in our advanced fuel systems technologies, and hiring outstanding engineers is critical to our success," Kennedy said. "By investing in students through this scholarship, we are investing not only in the future of the West Michigan community but in Autocam's future as the premier company for this specialized technology."

Autocam's are the only full-tuition scholarships at Seymour and Esther Padnos College of Engineering and Computing. Candidates for the scholarship must be accepted for admission at GVSU and be full-time students at the College of Engineering and Computing. Students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and declare a major in engineering. Scholarship recipients will be announced in September.

We simply cannot grow too many engineers.  Manufacturing’s biggest problem, both long- and short-term is a lack of talent.

Here’s an excerpt on that from Manufacturing Renaissance a look at the state of one of the most important and most maligned economic sectors in the U.S.

Michigan-based manufacturing companies have invested more than $1 billion in new research and development projects as the sector pulls out of some of the worst years the state’s economy has ever seen.

RoMan Manufacturing is not being left behind. Company President Bob Roth told me the Grand Rapids-based company is expanding its signature line of water- and air-cooled resistance welding transformers into new industry sectors.

“The fundamentals are the same,” Roth explained. “But the nuances and the applications take a lot of development work. It’s like they say about monkeys and men. ‘The difference between them is only two percent, but that is a very important 2 percent.’”

This is all about taking advantage of opportunity. Roth sees growth potential in moving RoMan into industries in which the company has not been participating. It is also about correcting a problem. Roth said because the company was so closely tied to one product category and one industry, it was too vulnerable to cyclical industry and economic swings.

He is putting RoMan’s money where that opportunity is, and to correct that problem. The company’s R&D budget is twice as high as usual. Roth pegged it at approximately 7-percent of sales.

“Quite frankly, 2011 was a record year for the company,” he said. “We have been working on this process for these new industries for the past 3 to 4 years. In 2011 we started to see the early fruits of that effort.”

However, this story is not at its happy ending.

Roth is worried about a lack of engineering talent. “Hiring an engineer today is a monumental task,” he said. “If you are coming out of school with an engineering degree right now, you can almost write your own ticket.”

Finding talent has been a struggle for RoMan. Roth said they are working “diligently” to upgrade talent from within, “but you get to a capacity problem. There are only so many hours in the day and so many hours in the week. It just gets to the point where you need more people. It is a challenge.”

Here’s the big question. Is this lack of engineering talent going to force U.S., manufacturers to send more R&D overseas to find the talent that is needed?

“My personal belief is that when it comes to the overseas issue, we have the tailwinds with us,” answered Roth. “I think you are going to see a lot more work coming back to the U.S. Productivity has never been better. But we have to keep developing the talent.

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Medical device manufacturers have found a new home on the Medical Mile in Grand Rapids, Mich. More on that can be found in Last Chance Mile: The Reinvention of an American Community, available in hard cover, softcover and e-book formats at www.rodkackley.com