Much of the automotive industry has struggled recently due to tariffs. Many manufacturers rely on overseas partners for components and raw materials. These partners are often an unavoidable part of their manufacturing processes. Others import whole vehicles, a practice that has also been the subject of tariffs. Additional import costs dramatically increase those prices, decrease the power of the company’s money and generally make international partnerships more difficult.
Tariffs do not have to hurt your company’s bottom line so severely, though. With the right tools, you can reduce these costs and empower your company to perform at its best in a tariff-laden world.
Learn about the many negative impacts of tariffs and how your company can counter them.
The impact of tariffs on automotive manufacturing has been largely negative. A lot of the costs are hard to detect, though. Most people only consider the additional import costs for importers, but those costs have knock-on effects that can also affect your company’s health. These indirect costs include:
Even if you manage to avoid tariffs, your company can still suffer significant harm. You may not be able to get all the vehicular components you need at the same price or speed. Your teams may grow frustrated with unstable internal standards. Your customers may even start to lose faith due to an increase in price or a decrease in the quality of service.
If your global supply chain cannot adapt, these problems can become even worse.
With so much out of your company’s control, it is important to focus on what you can control.
The factory floor is your company’s domain. Increasing its efficiency can counteract the heightened costs imposed by tariffs. Tariffs are adding extra costs to one side, so it is up to you to balance things out by decreasing costs on the other side.
The solution is automating the automotive manufacturing process. Automation can give your company the financial and operational resilience it needs to withstand tariffs and other external pressures. It can:
In a high-cost environment like an automotive manufacturing facility, every minute of downtime has a cost.
You can reduce that machine downtime drastically with flexible rotary index tables designed for 24/7 operation.
These indexers have robust components perfect for handling the high inertial loads of automotive parts. They are resistant to wear and mechanical failure, which dramatically decreases the likelihood of line stoppages. Their sealed housings and lubrication-for-life designs also reduce the amount of time maintenance takes and minimize lubricant contamination issues. Predictable, scheduled maintenance will reduce your downtime even further.
If your line can assemble parts consistently, your company will get a lot more out of the components it pays for. For that, you will need equipment that is precise without compromising on speed.
Precision link conveyors have the accuracy and micron-specific repeatability needed to reduce the rate of defective parts. They make welding, dispensing and fastening much more accurate.
Over time, the increased precision of your line will lead to a significant reduction in waste. Your vehicles’ components will also adhere more closely to the design specs, which can reduce the risk of recalls and warranty claims from customers whose vehicles do not function properly.
One of the most straightforward ways to increase your manufacturing efficiency is to up the speed of your assembly line. While this approach is not appropriate for all manufacturers, it can be an enormous asset to some.
Servo-driven rotary indexers can dramatically increase the pace of your rotary index tables. They have programmable motion profiles that engineers can customize for speed and dwell time based on the specific task they are completing.
Multidex indexers can take that speed even further. They include a rotary index table and multiple satellite indexers, which dramatically increase their total throughput.
Precision link conveyor systems also allow for multiple assembly and inspection processes to occur simultaneously. Concurrent processes can increase both the quality and number of units produced per hour.
Together, these systems can lower the manufacturing costs of cars and counter the harmful effects of tariffs.
Automation is an investment, so you need to understand the value it brings to the table before making a purchase. This is especially true if you are looking to offset the costs of tariffs.
Start by assessing potential savings. This figure will include:
Then, balance the savings against the size of the investment. This figure will include:
It is also important to keep in mind that the savings will compound over time. The initial cost of investment may be high, but your company can recoup that money in savings. After that, the savings will begin offsetting the cost of tariffs.
You can also contrast these savings with the money your company will lose by failing to upgrade. Once you have considered all these factors, your company will have a strong sense of whether it is going to receive a strong return on its investment.
Motion Index Drives has been changing the face of automotive manufacturing since 1970. We offer index tables, link conveyors, custom-fabricated equipment and more. The best part is that they all come with a five-year warranty and 24/7 support from our highly experienced staff. Our equipment is always improving, and so are we. We have partnered with businesses in all industries, from nuclear power plants to aerospace companies, and we cannot wait to work with you, too.
To learn more about our automated equipment, fill out our contact form or call us at 248-780-0955.
