Success Via Supply Chain Management Is Focus of 2007 Automotive News Manufacturing Conference

NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 22 -- Nearly a dozen of the automotive industry's top executives will address manufacturing success via tight, cohesive supply chain management at the 2007 Automotive News Manufacturing Conference May 16, 2007 - 18 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel in Nashville, TN. The event is sponsored by Deloitte and Tennessee Economic and Community Development.

The conference theme, The Seamless Supply Chain: The managerial culture and technical tools that make for high-quality, high-productivity manufacturing, spotlights factory floor coordination and communication not only in state-of-the-art technology, but also state-of-the-art planning and organizational ideas.

Automotive News Manufacturing Conference presentations kick off with individual morning remarks by:

  -- William G. Diehl, President, CEO & Global Automotive Practice Lead, BBK
  -- Ron Harbour, President, Harbour Consulting
  -- John G. Kalson, Director of Production, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing
     Alabama
  -- Bill Krueger, Senior Vice President North American Manufacturing and
     Supply Chain Management (effective 4/1), Nissan North America Inc.

Sharing insights during an afternoon panel discussion around the theme Moving Parts: Achieving perfection in supply chain management will be:

  -- Doug Bartow, Vice President Paint, BMW Manufacturing Corporation LLC
  -- Chris Nielsen, Vice President of Purchasing, Toyota Motor Engineering &
     Manufacturing North America, Inc.
  -- Vicki O'Meara, President, U.S. Supply Chain Solutions, Ryder System,
     Inc.
  -- Sanjiv Sidhu, Founder & Chairman, i2 Technologies, Inc.
  -- Frederiek Toney, Executive Director, Material Planning & Logistics,
     Ford Motor Company

Bo I. Andersson, Vice President, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain, General Motors will address the conference during the dinner program. The evening will also include the first-time presentation of the Automotive News Supplier's Choice Awards. Based on results of a survey conducted by J.D. Power and Associates, the awards recognize original equipment manufacturers that best encourage, solicit, implement and reward suppliers' innovations as part of their total business plan.

Rounding out the conference's agenda are VIP tours of Nissan's Smyrna Manufacturing Plant.

The 2007 Automotive News Manufacturing Conference is expected to attract 300 - 350 OEM and supplier executives involved in manufacturing, purchasing, logistics, information systems, technology and engineering.

Registration for the Automotive News Manufacturing Conference is $995 per person. Dinner-only tickets, including the pre-dinner reception, are available for $185 per person or $1,850 for a table of ten. Visit http://www.autonews.com/manufacturing for a complete agenda and online registration or call 313-446 0326.

The Automotive News Manufacturing Conference is also sponsored by Automotive Research Alliance, Brose, Nissan, BBK, Covisint, i2, State of Kentucky and the Tennessee Automotive Manufacturers Association.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Complimentary registration is available to media for the 2007 Automotive News Manufacturing Conference. Register online in advance at http://www.regonline.com/125486 or contact Pat Adanti-Joy at +1-586-939-3429 or pat.joy@comcast.net.